Born to Shadow Blade
by SparkyKnight
Summary: Vincent and Nanashi run away to the alleys after an accident with their parents and things happen.Forming the Northside most powerful gang. Shadow Blades Extra:AU fic added. What if something happened to Nanashi and Vincent wasn't there to save him?
1. Born to Shadow Blade: Forming the Team

I don't own beyblade and never will. This is the sequel to my other fic,  
  
"Through Pain and Loss". It tells how the Shadow Blades were created and some other secrets along with it. Anyway, if you like "The Street Blader", then I hope you enjoy this fic about two of the characters. Especially you Lunar Heart!! *************************************************************  
  
A lone shadow figured walked around, it seemed to be looking for something as it trudged through the rain. It suddenly came upon a certain two-story house. It studied it a bit and quickly noted something down and left as soon as it had come.  
  
The reason for its quick retreat was that someone in the window had come and looked out the window and lucky for it, it wasn't found.  
  
"Big brother, when is Squall-tousan coming home?" asked the 13-year-old Nanashi cutely, looking at Vincent as he was staring at the television screen, and he was sitting next to him.  
  
"Shh!! I dunno Nanashi, but I'm watching a match right now!!" replied Vincent. It was a beyblade battle again.  
  
"Why are you watching that battle? It's just a replay from yesterday big brother." sighed Nanashi watching him.  
  
"I know, but this time, I can actually study this guy's moves." grinned Vincent.  
  
"You and wanting to battle people. You never seem to cease to amaze me yet big brother." sighed Nanashi as he got up from the couch and was going to his room, when his adopted mother called out,  
  
"Hikari-chan!! Wanna help me cook dinner?" Kari shouted from the kitchen. Nanashi perked at that.  
  
"Hai!!" smiled Nanashi as he bounded off towards the kitchen. Vincent shook his head at his little brother, and then watched the battle.  
  
//Go and get him now!!//  
  
Two blades in the middle of a regular dish were going all out against each other, but it seemed no matter what the other did, the blue and red blade just seemed to toy with him.  
  
//Heh, this ends now. Go Dranzer!! Fire arrows!!//  
  
And with that the opponent's blade was completely destroyed, the opponent fell to his knees and stared at his broken blade as the winner walked away.  
  
//And the winner and still champion of the splash bowl is Kai!!//  
  
But Vincent was watching the kid named Kai as he watched him mutter something,  
  
//Too weak. That victory was completely pointless. I need stronger opponents.//  
  
'Hmmm, he seems arrogant, doesn't he?' thought Vincent as he raised his eyebrow at the kid walking off.  
  
He shrugged to himself and picked up the remote and started channel surfing.  
  
'Boring...'  
  
'Rerun'  
  
'Gag me!! Romance movie!!'  
  
'Oh geez...a corny drama show'  
  
'Jeopardy...stupid'  
  
'Erk!! ARRGGHH!! NOT THIS STUPID SHOW!!'  
  
'Hmm...What's this Slayers? Usually Nanashi watches this show, he says it's a little violent, but overall he said it was funny.'  
  
So Vincent sat there watching the TV, while Nanashi and Kari were working in the kitchen. He didn't hear the door open Squall walked in tired and a bit wet, as he took off his raincoat and umbrella down. He looked around and saw that Vincent was stuck on the T.V again and quietly walked up to him and snatched the remote off his hands and turned the T.V off.  
  
"Oi!! pops!! What the heck!! I was watching that and it was getting interesting." shouted Vincent turning his head so he was watching Squall grin at him as he tossed the remote up and down in his hand.  
  
"Sure, sure. But I think you can wait until after dinner and my little announcement then you can get back to your precious shows." replied Squall, tossing the remote down and walking towards his office.  
  
"Oi pops!! Waddaya mean precious!? I was BORED!!!" shouted Vincent.  
  
"Then read a book you blockhead!!" shouted Squall, smacking Vincent in the head in a friendly manner.  
  
"THAT HURTS!!"  
  
"Then don't call me pops!! I'm only 23!!" replied Squall glaring at Vincent. Vincent glared back.  
  
"POPS!! POPS!! POPS!!! POPS!!" shouted Vincent sticking his tongue out and running away from the fuming Squall.  
  
"GET BACK HERE YA GAKI!!" shouted Squall.  
  
"NYAAA!!! COME AND GET ME POPS!!" laughed Vincent dodging Squall's attempt so apprehend him.  
  
As they were running around the living room, jumping over the couch and various of other objects, Nanashi had come out of the kitchen and his eyes widened at the sight.  
  
"Kari-kaasan!! Their at it again!!" moaned Nanashi shaking his head and disappearing into the kitchen. When the door opened, there was Kari holding her frying pan in her right hand and growled at the sight.  
  
[BANG!! BANG!! CLONG!!]  
  
"ITAI!! MOTHER!! THAT HURT!!"  
  
"OUCH!! GEEZ WOMAN, WATCH IT WITH THAT DAMN FRYING PAN!!"  
  
"WILL YOU TWO BAKAS CALM DOWN BEFORE YOU BREAK SOMETHING AGAIN!?"  
  
"Yes ma'am."  
  
"Good. Dinner's ready now hurry up. NOW!!" shouted Kari.  
  
"HAI!!"  
  
And the two of them split to the kitchen, before they got knocked in the heads again with the frying pan.  
  
When they got in and sat down. Vincent saw Nanashi trying not to laugh and Vincent glowered at him.  
  
"Be quiet Nanashi." sighed Vincent, rubbing his sore head.  
  
"*snort* Sorry big brother. Here." Nanashi said handing him an ice pack.  
  
Vincent smiled gently and applied it to his head.  
  
"I'm lucky I'm hard headed." grinned Vincent.  
  
"Why?" asked Nanashi putting some salad and chicken onto his plate and passed it to Vincent who put down the ice pack and grinned.  
  
"Because then I'd be as smart as pops here and that wouldn't be very good now would it!!" laughed Vincent and Nanashi joined in.  
  
Squall merely shook his head and filled his plate up.  
  
Once they finished their dinner and Kari was passing out the desserts, Squall decided to make his announcement.  
  
"Okay, you guys remember how my job allows me to bring people to the BBA training center here right?" asked Squall.  
  
"Yea? So what does that have to do with your announcement pops?" asked Vincent grinning and was about to eat his moochi cake, when it was snatched out of his hand and he bit into thin air.  
  
"WHAT THE!?" shouted Vincent frantically looking around for his precious moochi cake when he spotted Squall eating some.  
  
"YO POPS!! WHAT THE HECK DID YA STEAL MY MOOCHI CAKES!?" shouted Vincent swiping the last one on Squall's plate.  
  
"I DID NO SUCH THINK VINCENT!! AND GIMME BACK MY MOOCHI CAKE!!" replied Squall leaning over the table trying to get back his last cake.  
  
"HA HA!! CAN'T GET ME POPS!!" yelled Vincent.  
  
"YA GAKI!! GET BACK HERE WITH MY DESSERT!!"  
  
And as usual, Vincent was being chased by his adopted father Squall all around the kitchen, while Kari and Nanashi sat at the table eating their desserts.  
  
"You know Nanashi, I could've just made some more moochi." stated Kari looking at Nanashi eating two moochis at once happily.  
  
"Nuh uh!! Its funny seeing nii-chan and tou-san chase each other kaa- san!!" laughed Nanashi holding the moochi.  
  
"You guys can stop now, you two can have my last two." sighed Kari as she shoved her plate towards the two fighting.  
  
"IT'S MINE!!" they shouted in unison as they dove for the plate, but Nanashi saw that and quickly grabbed it as they hit their head on the table and fell to the floor, groaning.  
  
"Nanashi!! Gimme a moochi please!!" moaned Vincent sitting down again.  
  
"C'mon Hikari." begged Squall.  
  
Nanashi smiled cutely and gently pushed the plate towards them and they each QUIETLY took a moochi and ate it.  
  
"Thank you. Now, about the training center. It seems that we can allow a couple more participants to train and they're finally letting me bring you two." grinned Squall.  
  
"Really!?" shouted Nanashi hopefully.  
  
"You're not pulling our legs pops are ya?" asked Vincent. Squall shook his head.  
  
"It's for real. You start tomorrow. Now you two cleaned up and to bed and Vincent?" stated Squall.  
  
"Ya?"  
  
"No more T.V late at night for watching bey-battles alright?"  
  
"*laughs*, fine pops. G'night." replied Vincent. Nanashi quickly gave Squall and Kari a hug goodnight then ran and caught up to his brother and started talking about tomorrow.  
  
"This is gonna be great huh, big brother!!"  
  
"Yeah. You just better be care alright?"  
  
"Don't worry!! I have Azul, you, Arashi, kaasan and tou-san!! How can I not be careful?" laughed Nanashi. Vincent gave him a small grin and messed up Nanashi's hair a bit and ran to their room.  
  
Squall and Kari smiled gently at each other as they cleaned the kitchen up and then left for their own beds.  
  
Later that night...................................................  
  
A figure quietly sneaked down the stairs as it made its way to the kitchen. It looked around first and then when it saw that no one was down, it grinned and then made its way to the refrigerator. It opened it and looked around in it, until it spotted what it was after. It gleefully took a couple of the leftover moochi and started eating them. It didn't notice another figure creeping towards it, with a weapon in its hand. It was raised above its head and then suddenly...  
  
[SMACK]  
  
"ITAI!!! FOR THE LOVE OF THE ELDERS WHO IN THE FEAKIN' WORLD HIT ME!?"  
  
"WHOEVER YOU ARE, YOU BETTER GET OUT OF MY HOUSE RIGHT NOW BEFORE I SCREAM!!"  
  
"The hell!? Koji-san!?" shouted the victim as the lights were turned on and Squall, along with Vincent came running through.  
  
"KARI!? What the hell happ...OMIGOD!! BACK AWAY ITS A...A...DEVIL!?" shouted Squall.  
  
It was true; for Arashi had somehow come out of his blade, seemingly hungry and had come down to eat some of those moochis that the family had eaten earlier. Arashi was rubbing his sore head as he stared at Squall and Kari, while Vincent shook his head. Arashi's black hair was a bit messed up from the attack, while his crimson eyes scanned the room, and still wearing his sleeveless leather shirt with black pants and boots and his black leather wings were retracted so he wouldn't be squished if he expanded his wings.  
  
"Arashi, I thought I told you not to get any snacks. You could've just ask me." said Vincent. Arashi snorted.  
  
"I highly doubt it master Vincent. By the way you and Squall-san were fighting, there wouldn't be any left for me." replied Arashi raising an eyebrow at his embarrassed master.  
  
"Well...that was...er...that is to that that I...umm...he..." stuttered Vincent. Arashi now stood up and facing his embarrassed Master.  
  
"Maybe you should explain the situation to your parents first master." stated Arashi folding his arms.  
  
Vincent sweat-dropped and looked at his parents, who was still staring at the black-haired crimson eyed devil now pointing a clawed finger in their direction. Kari was hold her frying pan while Squall held a poker stick in his hands.  
  
"Umm...right." he added with another thought. Then the kitchen door opened and walked in Azul looking tired. His dark blue hair was a bit messed up, his tired blue eyes were half shut and then he found himself staring into the interesting look of Arashi.  
  
"Wha?" wondered Azul out loud as he stared at the eyes of Arashi that said sorry-but-I-just-blew-our-cover look and Arashi grinned sheepishly, while Azul finally woke and glared at him.  
  
His blue hair covered his face for a while, and his white silk shirt and pants underneath the silver and green armor that he wore he was shaking and suddenly Azul growled and looked at Arashi glaring,  
  
"YOU STUPID BAKA!! HOW MANY TIME HAVE I WARNED YOU ABOUT COMING OUT OF YOUR BLADE FOR A MID-NIGHT SNACK!?"  
  
"Ahh, I think I lost count after the what...fiftieth time?" Arashi replied grinning very very nervously as Azul's glaring face seem make him more and more afraid of his lighter half.  
  
'Oh boy. And to think I'M suppose to be the cruel one. Must remind myself NEVER get on Azul's bad side, or hell would just freeze over.' thought Arashi as he tried to calm Azul down.  
  
"Umm...I can explain everything pops." Vincent said smiling sheepishly.  
  
"Please do Vincent." replied Squall staring nervously at Azul scolding Arashi for his stupid mistakes, as Arashi was cringing and grinning nervously at his lighter half.  
  
"Now just calm down Azul, we can sort this thing out right?" Arashi asked nervous.  
  
"Grrrr, we better or you are so gonna get it Arashi." Azul replied glaring, and itching to get his sword out.  
  
"Ri...right." Arashi stated sweat-dropping and raising his hands in front of him in defense and protection, as Azul's eyes narrowed and glared at Arashi.  
  
Once everything was calmed down and Azul was no longer mad at Arashi but was still pretty pissed about it, Vincent told Squall and Kari the entire story of what had happened with their old family and how Azul and Arashi had come to them.  
  
"I see. Now I know why we suddenly found you at out door." stated Squall quietly.  
  
"Vincent, what ever happened to your father?" asked Kari seriously.  
  
Vincent was taken back as he suddenly remembers his old 'father'.  
  
"I...I don't know, now that you mentioned it mother. I can recall Arashi and Azul scaring him off, but I haven't seen him since." replied Vincent, thinking for a moment.  
  
"This is delicious Kari-san!!" grinned Arashi as he bit into another moochi cake. Kari surprised but smiled.  
  
"I'm glad you like them Arashi-san, but why are you down here Azul?" asked Kari.  
  
"ARGH!! I just remembered!!" cried Azul and he frantically got up and started running around the kitchen looking for something.  
  
"I promised hikari-chan that I'd bring him some water and it's already been over thirty-minutes!!" Azul frantically shouted as he got the glass of water and left the kitchen.  
  
"We see." stated Kari, Squall and Vincent. Arashi was too busy eating the moochi cakes to notice.  
  
The next morning.................................  
  
Kari walked into the boy's bedroom where Nanashi and Vincent shared it. She walked over to Nanashi and shook him gently and woke him up.  
  
"Hikari, time for you to go to the center remember?" smiled Kari.  
  
"Hai!! I'm gonna get dressed, wake nii-chan for me please!!" replied Nanashi as he ran into the bathroom with some clothes he grabbed.  
  
Vincent wasn't a morning person and he wasn't gonna start now.  
  
"Arashi, if you would please?" sighed Kari.  
  
"Goody. My please Kari-sama." smirked Arashi as he grabbed something near by and Kari made her way out of the room before...  
  
"AAAAIIIEEEEEE!!! THAT'S FREEZING!!! ARASHI YOU BETTER GET BACK IN YOUR BLADE BEFORE I GET TO YOU!!" shouted Vincent.  
  
After all the chaos was done with, the entire family left for the training center at last, while a figure still watched them, scheming its plans.  
  
Once they got to the center, Vincent and Nanashi were amazed at everything that was displayed here.  
  
"Okay, now you get to choose up to two options." stated Squall.  
  
"I think I'll just stick with kendo and martial arts." Vincent said looking through the windows at the other kids.  
  
"I wanna do soccer and martial arts with big brother!!" grinned Nanashi.  
  
"Alright, now let's get you in your choices alright?"grinned Squall.  
  
Soon once they begun the training, Nanashi and Vincent were proving to be experts. Nanashi got a daily workout with his soccer and martial arts and Vincent became the top student in both the kendo and martial arts. Soon they didn't know that disaster was going to happen, one day when all four of them were mysteriously called to the BBA center one faithful evening.  
  
"Why did we get called here, when they only wanted to talk to tou-san?" asked Nanashi swinging his feet back and forth on the chair he sat on between Vincent and Kari.  
  
"I dunno but I think it has to do with something important." shrugged Vincent.  
  
Then Squall came back out looking grim.  
  
"We have to get home fast, Kari, Nanashi, Vincent we're going to move." stated Squall.  
  
"But why?" asked Vincent worried and holding Nanashi's hand.  
  
"Remember how you said your father disappeared once Azul and Arashi appeared? It seems he's found you and is out for murder." replied Squall.  
  
"Big brother!!" wailed Nanashi scared as he buried himself in Vincent's shirt frightened.  
  
"O...okay tou-san, we better get moving." said Vincent as he ran to the car followed by Nanashi, Squall and Kari. They drove home as fast as they could and once they reached it they are ran but stopped suddenly, as they noticed someone was waiting for them.  
  
"Who are you." growled Squall.  
  
"Why hello, Vincent and Nanashi TRET." growled the voice. Vincent's eyes went wide as he held onto Nanashi tighter as he hugged Vincent.  
  
"You...how could...DARE you show up here!!" shouted Kari.  
  
"Ahhh...it's been awhile...my dear sister-in-law." grinned the guy. (Let's just call him Aaron).  
  
"WHAT!? YOU MEAN YOUR OUR MOM'S SISTER!?" shouted Vincent and Nanashi.  
  
"Yes, but its not like I had a choice!! I warned your mother about him but...you know what happened." stated Kari sadly.  
  
"Yes, now if you would please move away so that I may get rid of the pests." stated Aaron.  
  
"Not in your life, get past me first you sick twisted bastard." growled Squall.  
  
"Hmm. It's your life." shrugged Aaron and fired to rounds hitting both Kari and Squall.  
  
As the two of them fell to the ground, Squall and Kari weakly got up and Squall smirked and Aaron raised an eyebrow at the two.  
  
"We're not gonna let you get to our sons!!" shouted Squall getting into a fighting position.  
  
"That's right!! We love them like they were...no...ARE our own sons you monster!!" screamed Kari as she gathered Vincent and Nanashi in her arms as she was kneeling down.  
  
"Why...they're just children, heh, the only thing I saw from them was getting those bit-whatever from them and controlling them." replied Aaron smugly.  
  
"HA!! AZUL WOULD NEVER LISTEN TO YOU CREEP!!" shouted Nanashi.  
  
"DITTO FOR ARASHI YOU PIECE OF TRASH!!" added Vincent.  
  
"Shut your mouths you brats." sneered Aaron and was going to try and shoot at the two boys, but Squall beat him to it by giving Aaron an uppercut to the chin and punches to the chest.  
  
"DON'T YOU EVER THREATEN MY BOYS!!" shouted Squall.  
  
Aaron got back up and started fighting back, as did Squall. As Aaron tried to throw a punch, but Squall dodged and twisted his arm and managed to kick Aaron's back making him crash against the living room wall.  
  
"YEA!! GO TOU-SAN!!" grinned Nanashi, but ducked as a shot rang right above his head. "YIPES!!"  
  
"Don't you aim for my hikari-chan!!" shouted Kari as she grabbed the nearest object, which happened to be one of Vincent's kendo swords and grabbed it tightly and started hitting Aaron over the head, as if she's done kendo before.  
  
Her light brow hair with tints of red in them was moving across her face as she attacked Aaron, her yellow long sleeved shirt covered with a green vest and lavender skirt waved around side-to-side as she swung. Her teal eyes glared at the man in front of her, who was just grinned smugly.  
  
There was only one thing that they had forgotten.  
  
They had left Nanashi and Vincent was unprotected.  
  
"FOOLS!! Now I'll be able to claim the beasts they posses!!" grinned Aaron as he aimed his gun towards the two unprotected boys and was about to pull the trigger when Kari raised her kendo sword and hit Aaron's hand hard, making him drop the gun, but pulling the trigger in the process.  
  
"NO!! VINCENT!! NANASHI!!" cried Kari as her face paled as the bullet was heading towards the kids. Then as the bullet hit its mark, three pairs of wide, shocked and frightened eyes stared.  
  
"TOU-SAN NNNOOOO!!!"  
  
"POPS!!"  
  
"SQUALL!!"  
  
Squall had seen what had happened and had managed to use his body as a shield as the bullet pierced through his chest and he fell back barely breathing.  
  
"Heh heh, I'm not about to let you down kids." grinned Squall weakly as he tried to sit up. His dark brown hair was covering his dark green eyes and now his blue shirt had a small hole in the upper right and blood was coming out. His jeans looked a bit messed up and by this time, Nanashi was at Squall's side and trying to talk him into staying down.  
  
[SLAP]  
  
Nanashi and Vincent whipped their heads towards the noise and stared in horror as their mother was getting slapped around by Aaron. The kendo stick that Kari had earlier was tossed aside and now Aaron had the advantage and was now choking Kari.  
  
"MOTHER!!!"  
  
"KAA-SAN!!"  
  
Squall acted quickly in his injured state, which amazed Vincent to no end and he grabbed the kendo stick and threw it like a javelin towards Aaron, knock Kari out of his grip and dropping her.  
  
"Don't TOUCH my wife." growled Squall shakily getting up, as he saw Kari was coughing and trying to get the air back flowing into her lungs.  
  
Aaron had just enough of all this foolish behaivor and quickly took out his gun and aimed it at the 'happy family'. He fired several rounds towards the family and Vincent with Nanashi didn't see them, as they were tending to Kari and Squall, but the parents did and again, was a human shield for the boys.  
  
"MOMMY!! DADDY!!" cried Nanashi trying to wake up fallen couple.  
  
"POPS!! MOTHER!!" added Vincent.  
  
As they tried to take care of their parents that had taken care of them for the past three years, they didn't notice Aaron looming over them, until Nanashi screamed and Vincent whipped his head up and saw that Aaron was going to shoot Nanashi. He thought fast and managed to get to Aaron thanks to his training and uppercut him, knocking him unconscious and the shot missed, but had hit the gas tank in the over and now the kitchen was on fire and spreading fast.  
  
"You...go. got...to...get...ou...out now." Kari said weakly, handing Vincent a set of keys and a piece of paper.  
  
"Mother, what's this?" asked Vincent trying not to cry.  
  
"That's the apartment we were going to live in. We already moved most of our precious stuff in there and your clothes.  
  
"Here...I man. aged to up...date...your...bey...blade." grimaced Squall handing Vincent a purple blade with red and Nanashi a pure white blade and blue. Each had either Arashi or Azul in them.  
  
"Now go." said Squall. Nanashi shook his head wildly.  
  
"Not without you!!" he cried.  
  
"Don't worry, w e'll live." said Kari getting tired.  
  
"But..." weeped Nanashi but was pulled away by Azul as was Vincent and they were gone to some place safe and as the house grew in flames, Nanashi and Vincent could only watch in horror as it did. People suddenly started arriving with the help of the fire fighters.  
  
But without a second thought Nanashi and Vincent were suddenly in the presence of their bit-beast who had some business to take care of and came back for them.  
  
"Are...are they really still alive Azul? TELL ME THE TRUTH PLEASE!!" cried Nanashi grabbing the robes of the angel bit-beast.  
  
"....I do not know. only time will tell." replied Azul sadly.  
  
Soon they were in the area where the apartment was suppose to meet and Nanashi and Vincent ended up running through various of allies as it had started to rain. Azul and Arashi had gone back to their blades. But trouble just seemed to love coming to the brothers and it did.  
  
"NII-CHAN HELP ME!!" cried Nanashi, as he was being pulled back by someone.  
  
"NANASHI!!" shouted Vincent as his dark blond hair stuck to his face and his dark green eyes were painted with worry.  
  
The people, who had Nanashi, looked no older than himself or Nanashi.  
  
"Don't you know that's there're rules against city punks coming into these allies?" smirked one.  
  
"Who the Fucking hell are you." growled Vincent.  
  
"We are one of alley gangs that's here, now, if you don't want your precious brother hurt you have to give us what you have." grinned what looked like to be the leader.  
  
"I don't have anything. Now let him go." Vincent said glaring.  
  
"I don't think so. BOYS!! SHOW HIM!!" smirked the leader snapping his fingers and Vincent was surrounded.  
  
They all started to attack him at once.  
  
One guy tried punching him in the stomach, but Vincent grabbed the guy's arm and flipped him over and twisted his arm, and kicking him in the stomach letting him go and tossing him into a nearby trash pile.  
  
The other two were shocked but that didn't stop them and they attack together, making it harder for Vincent to hit either of them and they managed to get Vincent down, but not for long as he seeped his feet, knocking both of the guys down and giving one a round-house kick to the head and a knife-hand chop to the neck, knocking them both out. Vincent was now panting, but kept his head high and saw something that made him loose his breath.  
  
While he was fighting the guy's three cronies, Nanashi was left helpless with the leader and now Nanashi was breath heavily and had some bruises and his clothes were slightly torn. It seemed the guy had a small knife and was staring at the blood.  
  
"Now how shall I finish ya off you brat?" smirked the guy. He was holding Nanashi up by his shirt and he was barely conscious.  
  
"I'll make it quick and easy." said the guy as he slid the knife across Nanashi's throat, drawing a whimper from Nanashi and small blood.  
  
Suddenly something inside Vincent snapped. Memories occurred. Times when his father was beating them up, mother dying, Squall and Koji nearly dying thanks to their deranged father and finally his little brother, the one he was suppose to PROTECT.  
  
//Vincent please don't do this again!! I don't want you to get hurt again!!//  
  
//Big-brother...//  
  
//Now it's time for the little brat to get HIS share of the pain.//  
  
//We'll always be loyal to you young masters//  
  
//Nanashi-chan!! Vincent-kun!! dinner//  
  
//OI!! GAKI GET BACK HERE NOW!!//  
  
//NYA!! CAN'T GET ME NOW POPS!!//  
  
//Really pops!! Ya ain't pulling our legs!?//  
  
//DON'T TOUCH OUR CHILDREN!!//  
  
//POPS!! MOTHER!!!//  
  
//TOU-SAN!!! KAA-SAN!!//  
  
//NII-CHAN HELP ME!!!//  
  
Vincent suddenly was full of rage, sorrow and despair as he screamed, catching the attention of three people.  
  
One was the guy who was surprised and now backing away from Vincent, looking frightened, Nanashi managing to get a glimpse of his brother.  
  
"Bi...g...bro...ther..." moaned Nanashi.  
  
Finally Arashi was woken up with the sudden power surge from his master, drawing him towards it.  
  
'Vincent, what happened? Why's your heart filled with these terrible emotions?' thought Arashi but he was pulled towards the energy source and Vincent stopped screaming. He stood up straight and his hair covering his eyes.  
  
Once the bully took a step towards Vincent, he suddenly fell to his bottom when something had tried to attack him, and as he looked at Vincent again, he nearly screamed. Part of Vincent's hair that was still dark blond, but now had hints of black in them was covering his left eye, but his right one was no longer green, for it was crimson. Crimson red just like Arashi's eyes. A dark lavender/black aura surrounded Vincent and he raised a hand that had silver claws on it. Suddenly it dawned to Nanashi on what had happened.  
  
Somehow...Arashi was being pulled to the energy that Vincent was emitting and that led Vincent to his current look because...  
  
Vincent and Arashi had become one person for a moment.  
  
"How dare you...how dare you threaten MY brother!!" shouted Vincent, but his voice seemed different and his red eyes were glowing.  
  
"I've already seen hell, with my first real family killed in front of me and nearly getting killed myself, and the same thing for my first family. Nothing. I couldn't do a damn thing and now, you just come waltzing in making my life more of a living hell you monster." growled Vincent, and his anger rising, the leather wings that belonged to Arashi suddenly appeared on Vincent's back, open full to its full black glory.  
  
"You're gonna pay dearly for what you have done."  
  
"Who...who are you!?" cried the guy scared out of his wits now.  
  
"I don't need to tell you my name to the likes of you, but call me...the Shadow Blader." growled Vincent the guy suddenly leaped up and ran away.  
  
He tried to anyway, but Vincent with his new found abilities had quickly jolted over and was now choking the guy with one hand, and staring at him with his cold crimson eyes.  
  
"Don't you EVER mess with me again. EVER!!" shouted Vincent, slamming the guy's back against the wall. He was nearly out of breath, as Vincent stared at the kid with cold, emotionless eyes, his claws nearly digging into the throat, when two small arms wrapped themselves around Vincent's waist.  
  
"Please Vincent. Wake up. wake up please. Just let him go? I've seen enough terror nii-chan." wept Nanashi crying into Vincent's red shirt.  
  
Then as soon as the power had came, it suddenly diminished and Vincent lost the demonic look and had dropped the kid, who was trying to get his breath back while he sat on the floor. As soon as he did, he leapt up and ran away.  
  
"Nanashi? What happened?" asked Vincent.  
  
It was quiet except for Nanashi's crying, so Vincent decided to leave the answer to another time and just held Nanashi tightly there in the rain.  
  
'What DID happen to me? All I can recall is the guy coming too close for comfort to killing Nanashi and then all went blank?' thought Vincent as they made their way to the apartment.  
  
But still, even when they were inside the warm apartment, and Nanashi was tucked into the bed in one room and Vincent took another room, Vincent made a promise.  
  
'I promise I will protect my brother and if possible my team from what I have just witnessed this past day. I'm going to be strong and powerful, so that I can fulfill my promise and not just use it to force others. No one needs to go through what I or my brother did.' thought Vincent as he turned over and fell asleep.  
  
Meanwhile............................  
  
Arashi and Azul were talking to each other once their masters went to sleep.  
  
"Azul, do you know what happened to Vincent? I suddenly had this huge amount of energy and I was just drawn to it." asked Arashi.  
  
"It seems Vincent can if he has enough raging emotions, like he displayed today, or can do it anytime, he is able to perform a technique of a perfect bond with a bit-beast." stated Azul thinking.  
  
"What do you mean?" asked Arashi confused.  
  
"Well, you know how you and I are...different than most bit-beasts right?" stated Azul.  
  
"As in we have human appearances, while most bit-beasts range to a variety of animals?" replied Arashi raising an eyebrow. Azul nodded.  
  
"I think we have an easier chance of performing the bond technique than most because of that." finished Azul. But Arashi was staring at Azul.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I just want to know what EXACTLY the technique is!!" replied Arashi, with a throbbing vein.  
  
"Okay, okay, hold your horses for a moment would you please? I was just getting to that part." Azul said.  
  
"The technique that we're talking about is called 'Omni fusion'." Azul added.  
  
"Omni Fusion?" wondered Arashi.  
  
"Yes, it was said that Omni fusion is a rare and sacred technique to those who truly understand their bit-beasts and are able to perform this. The only problem is, that Omni Fusion is rare and sacred because it can go horribly wrong and can change the bit-beast and the user forever or it could permanently damage them both. The fusion allows the beast and the blader to share power or energy flows to increase their chances of a successful battle." stated Azul.  
  
"But what about..."  
  
"I'm getting there Arashi, remember, patience is a virtue."  
  
"You and your damn literature sayings, Azul."  
  
"Hush, now as I was saying, what had happened was some how without knowing it, you and Vincent's emotions were one of the same, as was the energy coming out of him. That is the reason you were drawn to him was because since you are his bit-beast, you have-somewhat the same energy. But what I find most strange is that Vincent didn't have any problems or illness once the fusion left." stated Azul.  
  
"What do ya mean?" asked Arashi.  
  
"Remember, YOU'RE a DARK element bit-beast. One of THE most hardest bit- beasts to control, even if you do choose a master. When one possess one of a dark element, the beast may have an upper hand on the blader, thereby taking control of the user and making him do whatever the beast pleases. Vincent was perfectly in tact when the fusion occurred and when it ended. He seemed totally in control, but since his emotions were raging like that, he lost a bit of it and almost killed that boy." replied Azul.  
  
"I think its because we both have something to care about. Most dark elements have nothing to care and want to protect, because most of them think its for the weak, not knowing that caring for something can actually make you stronger." added Arashi, getting it, and Azul clued in to what Arashi was saying.  
  
"So if I think what're you're saying is, that since Vincent has Nanashi to care for, he didn't loose his mind!!" stated Azul, " but what made you stay in control?"  
  
"For a so-called wise angel, you sure are dense." grinned Arashi and Azul pouted.  
  
"Hey!! That's not very funny." Azul said frowning. Arashi laughed his crimson eyes dancing.  
  
"I mean that I care for YOU because you're my lighter half. Remember?" he added.  
  
"*laughs*, yeah you're right. G'night Arashi-kun." smiled Azul disappearing into Nanashi's room.  
  
Arashi shook his head.  
  
"Good night Azul-kun."  
  
It has been several months, since the incident with Nanashi and Vincent's encounter with Aaron and the Omni fusion between Arashi and Vincent. Since that time, both of them had been training a lot since then and both of them were nearly equal, except that Vincent had turned stone-cold and emotionless since then, while Nanashi seemed to remain naïve as ever along with innocent. Until or ever if they get team members, Nanashi wasn't allowed outside the apartment for various of reasons. He didn't complain and just grinned and saw Vincent off. Vincent always roamed the allies for bladers that he would consider asking to join him. He found one today, while walking around an alley late one evening, as the evening sky  
  
"Same ol', same ol'. *sigh*, isn't there ANYTHING new?" sighed Vincent with his hands in his pockets as he walked around the allies.  
  
"You stupid city punk!! How dare you!!"  
  
"Hn.If you had not been following me, I would not have attacked, besides, HE started it." Replied a calm voice.  
  
'Heh, I guess I ain't the only ones who can get on those Black Thunders nerves.' Thought Vincent smirking, and running to where he heard all the shouting.  
  
He ran until he found a corner and when he turned he smirked.  
  
There were three of the Black Thunders, only these looked to be mildly the ones that had been here a long time. They were glaring at a cool, collected boy about Vincent's age with copper hair that drew to the back of his head and bangs to almost cover his golden copper eyes. He had a white shirt with blue jeans and a gray jacket. Vincent decided to watch and see what was happening.  
  
As the copper headed kid just stood there it looked like he was intimidating, one of them had enough and dashed forward with his arm raised.  
  
"JENSEN YOU IDIOT!! GET BACK HERE!!"  
  
As he was near the copper head's the guy ducked and punched Jensen in the stomach three times and punched him in the face, throwing him back and crashing into another one.  
  
"JENSEN!! ANDRE!!"  
  
"Okay city-boy, now you're gonna get it." Growled one of them and they all started to attack at once. The guy didn't even flinched, which amazed Vincent, and the only other person who managed to do that, was.Squall.  
  
The guy just narrowed his eyes and then ran forward getting up close to two of the guys, surprising them and kicking them each into a wall on opposite sides. He turned around quickly used the back of his elbow to knock the guy to the ground and then kicking him in the sides and into some trashcans.  
  
The guy didn't see another one of the boys behind a trash bin and setting up his blade and was about to launch it, when a purple and blood red blade impacted on his and scarring his hands and dropping the launcher. He looked up and his eyes widened in fear.  
  
"Sha..Shadow Blader!!?" shouted the boy scrambling up and backing away from Vincent, who just smirked and narrowed his eyes.  
  
"Now I don't think that's very fair now."  
  
"Wha." but the guy was too speechless, as he stared into Vincent's cold, hard eyes and promptly fainted. Vincent shook his head in disgust and kicked the boy over.  
  
"I hate cowards who hide." Growled Vincent glaring at the kid's body.  
  
He suddenly heard footsteps coming his way and was about to turn and leave when a voice broke his train of thoughts.  
  
"I don't know who you are, but thanks."  
  
It was the copper-haired kid from the fight. Vincent blinked and shook his head and turning away.  
  
"I heard some racket and came to see what was up and you happened to be there." Stated Vincent, who opened an eye and looked at the kid who spoke to him.  
  
"So, what're you doing in these alleys? Most people try to avoid these alleys especially." Vincent added without a second thought.  
  
"At first I was just practicing my skills at beyblading, but apparently I was being followed and you know the rest." Replied the guy shrugging nonchalantly.  
  
They just stared at each other a bit, until Vincent sighed.  
  
"Hey, are you on any of the alley team? Eternals? Night storms? Red Raiders?" asked Vincent. The kid shook his head.  
  
"I've only heard rumors about them and rumors about the Shadow blader. They say they he actually almost turned into a devil and can out maneuver and attack mercilessly on his opponents." He replied staring at Vincent who just shook his head.  
  
"I really don't understand how that turning into a devil got out, 'cause I don't remember and the rest is almost true." Replied Vincent.  
  
"So you're the Shadow blader I've been hearing so much about. The only thing is, the rumors say that you wander alleys. What for?" he asked.  
  
"I'm looking for some people to join my team." Vincent replied flatly.  
  
"I thought you already did?"  
  
Vincent shook his head.  
  
"Its only me and my younger brother, and I don't want him running around here." Vincent replied coldly.  
  
"How caring of you." The guy stated mildly surprise.  
  
"Yeah, well. What's say you wanna join my team. You remind me of someone I admired, back a couple months ago." Vincent said softy.  
  
"Who was it?"  
  
"It was my adopted father Squall. But I don't really wanna talk about the past, so how about it?" Vincent replied holding out his hand.  
  
The boy seemed to consider it and then grabbed the Shadow Blader's hand and shook it.  
  
"Names Averus Silentstorm and I'm 15." Grinned Averus.  
  
"You already know me as the shadow blader, but my real name's Vincent Koji, 15 also. Glad to have you on my team." Replied Vincent shaking Averus's hand. They let go and Vincent noticed that it was almost past maybe nine at night and told Averus to follow him to his new home.  
  
They past through many allies, trying to avoid any night gangs, they made it to a small two story apartment, with one light on.  
  
As Vincent unlocked the door and opened it, he saw the scene in front of him, he smiled gently. Averus confused, because the rumors were that the shadow blade didn't show ANY emotions looked at what Vincent was staring at.  
  
Nanashi had tried his hardest in waiting for Vincent to come home, but had fallen asleep on the couch, laying on his side and covered by a blanket that Azul must've put there to keep him warm. Vincent closed the door behind him and walked quiet up to Nanashi. Averus just stood there watching the scene unfold in front of him.  
  
"Nanashi, hikari-chan, you must wake up now." Vincent said shaking Nanashi gently.  
  
Nanashi didn't wake up but rolled towards the voice and Vincent caught him as he was about to fall off the couch.  
  
"Hmmm? Nii-chan?" wondered Nanashi opening his eyes slowly.  
  
"Oh good you're back." Grinned Nanashi. "did you find a team member today?"  
  
"Yes. His name's Averus Silentstorm." Replied Vincent still on the floor and holding Nanashi. Averus took this as he was allowed to come forward now. He saw Nanashi and just couldn't help but smile at the cute kid.  
  
"Hey there. Nice to meet you Nanashi." Smiled Averus. Nanashi nodded tiredly.  
  
"You too, Silentstorm-kun." Replied Nanashi smiling.  
  
"Just call me Averus. The last name thing makes me sound old." Averus replied Sheepishly.  
  
"Hai. G'night." Yawned Nanashi, and then snuggled up in Vincent's arms.  
  
"I made some curry for you, there should be enough for Averus and I almost beat your score on the video game big brother." Nanashi added then finally falling asleep.  
  
Vincent laughed quietly.  
  
"Only in your dreams hikari-chan."  
  
He then lifted Nanashi up and started walking off towards the halls.  
  
"Well, you better follow me Averus if you want to see where your room is." Stated Vincent. Averus nodded and silently followed him to the hallway and up the stairs. There, they were in a small hallway with three rooms on either sides and one room had a balcony on it.  
  
He put Nanashi in the room second from the stairs on the left side. Vincent got a glance of what the room looked like. It was light blue and white carpeting. It had a bunch of photos on the desk with a lamp light and a framed picture on the dresser. There were also pictures that looked like Nanashi drew and a bunch of books in shelves. As Vincent tucked Nanashi in he turned off the lights and made his way quietly out of the room. Then he turned and faced Averus.  
  
"The one that's the farthest and to the right is mine. Pick any one. They already have the necessary stuff, and you can decorate anyway ya like." Vincent stated. Averus nodded and chose the room that was in the middle of the right side.  
  
The next morning Averus woke up early. He looked at the near-by clock and it read about 8:30 in the morning. He yawned and got up and got dressed in his usual attire. He walked down the stairs still yawning a bit, and trying to get the hair out of his eyes, and when he walked into the kitchen he saw Nanashi already up flipping pancakes.  
  
"Oh? Good morning Averus!! Like pancakes?" asked Nanashi grinning.  
  
"Sure Nanashi. How about I make some blueberry pancakes." Grinned Averus getting out a package of blueberries and adding it to the left over batter.  
  
"Really!! You can cook too!!" Nanashi asked his teal eyes shinning.  
  
Averus couldn't help and laugh at the look that Nanashi was making.  
  
"Yeah. I'm sort of a cook. C'mon I'll show you how you make them extra tasty. By the way, shouldn't you wake up Vincent?" asked Averus as he started making pancakes too.  
  
"Uhhh.technically he has his own wake up call, here put these on." Said Nanashi sweat-dropping and turning off the stove and handing Averus a couple of ear-plugs. Averus gave Nanashi a confused look, but took it and put them in.  
  
"3.2.1." he saw Nanashi mouth and Averus looked behind him and didn't see anything, until Vincent stormed into the kitchen with his hair wet, but he guessed that he must've dried off and changed his clothes, but his hair was still wet.  
  
Both Nanashi and Averus took out the ear plugs, washed them and put them in the kitchen drawer.  
  
"Morning big brother!!" smiled Nanashi as he set the pancakes in front of him.  
  
"Morning Nanashi." Sighed Vincent as he dug into the pancakes.  
  
"These are good blueberry pancakes!! Did you make them Averus?" asked Vincent.  
  
"Yeah. I'm a bit of a chef, so to say." Replied Averus sitting down and eating his own pancakes. They ate in silence until it was broken by Nanashi as they finished off the food and finishing cleaning off the dishes.  
  
"Big brother. I was wondering, could.could I go to city? I need some supplies." Nanashi asked.  
  
Vincent raised an eyebrow and looked at him.  
  
"Fine, but take Averus with you just in case. Is that alright with you?" he replied.  
  
Averus shrugged.  
  
"No other plans. Might be interesting and we may even find a new member for this team." Replied Averus.  
  
"Fine, but try and be careful. Alright hikari-chan?" stated Vincent seriously.  
  
"Hai!!" Nanashi replied smiling widely. Vincent grinned and messed up his hair and out the door.  
  
"I should be back by the evening." He said and then left.  
  
"Okay Nanashi. You ready?" asked Averus.  
  
"Uh huh!!" replied Nanashi.  
  
It was really just suppose to be a quick trip. In and out and gone. They walked through several allies, with different alley gangs talking and beyblading against each other, amazing Nanashi, since he was usually kept inside the house for unknown reasons to Averus. Once they had made it out of the alley, they turned a corner and Nanashi found the store he wanted. He went in and bought the food and then they walked around a bit. Nanashi also bought a couple of purple bands and leaving Averus wondering what they were used for. He noticed that every time they passed like a family or a bunch of friends playing Nanashi always seemed to be saddened.  
  
They soon passed an ice cream store and Averus had Nanashi stop and he pulled him in surprising him.  
  
"Av..Averus what're we doing?" asked Nanashi tilting his head one side.  
  
"Every time I saw you see a family or some other kids playing together, you always seem to get depressed." Stated Averus turning to him.  
  
"It's just that a lot of things had happened to me and my brother. We never really had time to make real friends and our family is a different story." Nanashi said quietly.  
  
"Don't you worry. Once we have a real team, we'll be you friends." Grinned Averus. Nanashi perked at that.  
  
"Really!?" Nanashi asked.  
  
"Really. Now what kind of ice cream you want? My treat." Smiled Averus.  
  
"Ummm.chocolate chip!!" chirped Nanashi.  
  
"Excuse me? I'd like two cones please. One chocolate chip and the other strawberry swirl please." Averus said. Once they had their order and Averus paid, they left the store eating their ice cream.  
  
"Thanks a lot Averus." Smiled Nanashi happily eating his cone.  
  
"No problem. But I have a question, you don't have to answer if you don't want to. Is that rumor about Vincent turning into a devil true?" asked Averus.  
  
As Nanashi finished off his ice cream he suddenly turned quiet.  
  
"Like I said.you don't have to answer if you don."  
  
"It's true. Vincent almost did turn into a devil." Nanashi interrupted quietly.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Don't tell my big brother this.but."  
  
"But what Nanashi? How do you know?"  
  
"I was barely conscious when this happened, and managed to stop Vincent, before he killed a kid."  
  
"Him? Kill? I never would've thought."  
  
"He was fine once it was over, but I think he had a hard time controlling the emotions and resisting killing the kid, and not just beating him up.  
  
"But how did it happen?"  
  
"It.it has something to do with emotions of a bit-beast and the master are aligned or are the same, I think, and that somehow allows the bit-beast to combine with the master giving the master its looks and powers for a while, at least, I THINK it is."  
  
"I never would've.tho.oufff!!"  
  
As they had continued and had turned a corner and entered the alley, they didn't see a girl with long brown hair crash into them.  
  
"Watch where you're going!!" she shouted, glaring at them.  
  
"Sorry. But you were the one running." Replied Averus.  
  
"Just be quiet!!" shouted the girl.  
  
Nanashi just stood there glancing from Averus to the girl. They saw as she hid from something then came out and stood right in front of them.  
  
"So.who're you?" asked Averus.  
  
"You first." She stated.  
  
"Nanashi Koji."  
  
"Averus Silentstorm."  
  
"My names Trista Kansaki thirteen years old."  
  
"What're you doing in these parts?" asked Nanashi.  
  
"Nothing of your concern." Growled Trista.  
  
"You don't need to be so rude to him. He was just asking." Stated Averus walking in front of Nanashi and Nanashi poked his head from behind Averus looking confused.  
  
"Sorry, sorry. Look I'm just lookin' for a battle. I've been bored and so has my bit-beast and maybe a team to join but that's about it." Replied Trista shrugging.  
  
Averus had a sudden idea.  
  
"I have a proposition for you Trista." Said Averus grinning. Trista looked at him, and couldn't help but blush at the sight of Averus grinning at her.  
  
"If you beat me then.I'll let you decide and if I win, you'll follow us and become a member of our team." Finished Averus.  
  
"Okay fine. Let's get ready!!" stated Trista as she readied her blade. Averus had to admit. Trista was pretty cute when she was so determined.  
  
He shook his head and motioned for Nanashi to stay where he was.  
  
"3.2.1.let it rip!!" Shouted Nanashi. Both blades went flying at each other immediately and crashing against each other as sparks flew from the each.  
  
Both blades started rounding against each other and each dodging each other and trying to counter. Neither had the upper hand, both seemed to be equal and neither giving up.  
  
As Trista tried attacking Averus's blade, he dodged and countered, nearly throwing Trista's blade off balance.  
  
"GO Dominion!! ATTACK NOW!!" shouted Trista and her blade was glowing a blue and still ramming Averus's blade pushing it back.  
  
"Wait for it.NOW!!" shouted Averus. Then suddenly Averus's blade disappeared and Trista was looking frantically for it. Then suddenly she felt something fly by her face and her eyes widened in shock and surprise that it was her blade.  
  
"I.guess you won Averus. Good match." Grinned Trista.  
  
"Not bad yourself Trista. Now remember our deal, you now join our team." Grinned Averus. Trista nodded.  
  
"So who's that captain? You?" Trista asked as they walked to the apartment.  
  
"Actually, its Nanashi's older brother. But he tends to be a bit emotionless and easily gets angry sometimes." Averus replied.  
  
"But he's pretty nice to other people though." Added Nanashi, grasping the bag so it wouldn't fall out of his hands.  
  
"I hope he'll allow me to join." Trista wondered out-loud.  
  
"I think he will. Or we can just have Nanashi sweet-talk him." Laughed Averus. Nanashi look insulted.  
  
"Hey!! Thanks a lot Averus!!" cried Nanashi.  
  
"I'm just kidding, but your brother does care for you very much." Replied Averus seriously. Nanashi smiled at that.  
  
"Yeah. He's the greatest big brother and a wonderful leader. Even though he may seem cold, he's still the same person to me." Added Nanashi, softly and a small tear escaping his right eye. Trista saw it and took a handkerchief and wiped it off.  
  
"Thanks Trista."  
  
"No problem Nanashi."  
  
Back at the apartment..............  
  
"ACHHOOO!!" sneezed Vincent and wiping his nose with a napkin as he was eating a moochi cake.  
  
"Either it's dust or someone's talking about me." Stated Vincent rubbing his nose. "Though, I wonder if Averus and Nanashi found another member yet. Oh well."  
  
When Nanashi and Averus got back, let's just say Vincent was surprised that they had found a blader and a girl at that. Not that he had anything against them, but he was just surprised to see that one actually joined. Since then everything has been a bit quiet and Nanashi was allowed to finally go outside the apartment since they had at least two other members with them. Now they still walk around the alleys but either in groups or sometimes by themselves.  
  
"VINCENT!!!" shouted Nanashi.  
  
"What is it hikari?" asked Vincent coming from his room.  
  
"I wanna go to the art store!! I'm all out of paint." Replied Nanashi. Vincent stared at Nanashi strangely.  
  
"Okay fine. YO!! Trista!! Averus!! We're going to be out for a while!! Watch the place would ya?" shouted Vincent.  
  
"Sure Vincent." Replied Averus from the kitchen.  
  
"Gotcha." Added Trista from the couch watching the television.  
  
"Okay let's go." Nanashi said grabbing Vincent's hand and pulling him along. Vincent was surprised, but smiled at his brother's innocent nature.  
  
As they were walking, and made it to the store, with no encounters from other ally kids, thankfully. Nanashi ran in and grabbed what he needed and then with some money that he had and they left the store. As they were talking and Vincent was actually laughing once they got back into the alleys.  
  
"Are you sure you can pull this off, without anyone seeing it hikari?" asked Vincent.  
  
"Sure!! I got it from you. If I can paint this picture without the others noticing then I'll be as good as you moving through the shadows." Grinned Nanashi.  
  
Suddenly Nanashi noticed a figure coming right at them and looked at Vincent desperately and tried to warn him but it was too late and the person collided with Vincent and the person fell to the ground. Now Nanashi knew he should be worried about the person and was, but couldn't help but stare. It was a girl, who looked to be about a year younger than him self, with red hair darker than his that was short with a blue headband with a white star on top and hazel eyes that looked scared. She had a white top and a blue tube top and ripped up jeans with black and blue sneakers.  
  
As Nanashi got a closer look to her, she looked frightened as someone was chasing after her and she had a deep cut on her shoulder and was frantically looking around.  
  
'Her face looks the same as when Vincent is scared that something is going to happen to me.' Nanashi thought.  
  
Then the girl suddenly noticed the people she had crashed into as she looked at Nanashi her face turned a little red and then Vincent had gotten up and was walking over to her. She looked scared and confused when Vincent approached her.  
  
"Hey kid, what're you doing here?" he asked as he grabbed her arm. The girl gave a small shriek and uppercut Vincent in the chin and then ran off. As Vincent fell back Nanashi noticed the small blood drops on the ground where the girl had fallen down. Nanashi quickly dropped the bag and ran after the girl, hoping to get to her, before any of the other gangs did.  
  
"Nanashi!! Wait up!!" shouted Vincent as he picked up the discarded bag that Nanashi had dropped and ran after him.  
  
The girl was running with amazing agility through the alleys like she knew them.  
  
'She's fast; uh oh she's heading into the Eastside!! Rayden's alley!! Gotta hurry!!' thought Nanashi as he started catching up, soon she turned a sharp corner and met with a dead end. She looked behind her and saw that Nanashi had made it and was breathing heavily.  
  
"You sure run fast dontcha." Panted Nanashi trying to get his breath back.  
  
"I.err.why." stuttered the girl scared as she clutched her shoulder  
  
"Hmm? Because you're injured and looked like you needed help." Replied Nanashi.  
  
"Why are you here Nanashi? An outsider?" growled a voice in front of them and both of them turned forward and the girl gulped and took a step back from the tall boy who stood in front of her. His black hair with red tipped and glared at the two.  
  
"Nanashi!! Where the heck are you!!" shouted Vincent running up behind Nanashi and the girl.  
  
When Vincent appeared, Rayden seemed to glare harder and Vincent glared back once he saw who was in front of them. Nanashi sweat dropped, you could practically see the tension between the two. Then Rayden noticed the bag that Vincent had.  
  
"Gee Koji, never knew you had a thing for art." Smirked Rayden. Vincent turned a bit red and glowered at him.  
  
"These are my brother's stuff. NOT MINE!!" shouted Vincent.  
  
"Still, what're you doing in my eastside Kojii?" questioned Rayden, getting back to the subject.  
  
"We were just walking home when the outsider crashed into us." Spat Vincent.  
  
"Then why are you here?" he asked again.  
  
"Ummm.Rayden I chased after her and my brother just came after me, after I ran after her." Nanashi replied softly.  
  
"I see." Rayden said flatly and jumped down from the crates and went to examine her, while Vincent was behind Nanashi and talking quietly to him.  
  
"Please big brother!! She's injured!!" Nanashi asked softly.  
  
"She's weak!! And she's a little too stubborn." Muttered Vincent glaring the other way.  
  
"Just like you? And how she got you with that surprise uppercut." Smirked Nanashi at Vincent who glowered at him.  
  
"Hikari-chan.Fine. We'll take her back." Growled Vincent.  
  
"Yippee!!" grinned Nanashi.  
  
"BUT, she's battling you." Smirked Vincent as he walked over to the girl as he left his brother ranting off about the battle.  
  
"WHAT!? But nii-chan." moaned Nanashi as he dejectedly followed Vincent as he and Rayden had another spat and Vincent carried the girl on his shoulder and leaving Rayden.  
  
"Gawd. My brother is too stubborn for his own good." Sighed Nanashi as he followed.  
  
Back at the apartment............  
  
"NANI!! BUT SHE LOOKS WEAK AND LOOKS LIKE SHE CAN'T DO ANYTHING!!" shouted Trista.  
  
"But we have to at least give her a chance." Stated Averus.  
  
"Are you sure about this Vincent." Asked Trista glowering.  
  
"She's just as stubborn as any of us are, so we have see how she fairs against a battle against Nanashi." Smirked Vincent.  
  
Trista and Averus went bug-eyed.  
  
"NANI!!? NANASHI'S BLADING AGAINST THE NEW KID!?"  
  
Nanashi sweat-dropped at the commotion and when he turned he saw the girl with her arm bandaged walking down the stairs.  
  
"Nii-chan, she's up." Grinned Nanashi.  
  
The girl was walking towards to where everyone was. The only face she recognized was the other red-head, since the blond had shouted his name when she was being chased by him. But before she could get a word out, she was rounded into Trista and she started asking things about her.  
  
"Can you?" asked Trista, staring at the girl. She looked confused.  
  
"What? Street fight? Beyblade?" she replied.  
  
"BOTH!!" shouted Trista.  
  
"Yeah I can. Why do you wanna know so badly?" asked the girl glaring back.  
  
"So are you an alley kid?"  
  
"Maybe.kinda." She replied staring challenging at Trista.  
  
"Then you're a city punk!!" Trista shouted.  
  
"Hell no!!" the girl screamed back.  
  
Then Vincent stepped up.  
  
"Let's see how you fare against my little brother. C'mon Nanashi!!" shouted Vincent walking away with Trista and Averus following him. Nanashi stayed back and smiled apologizing to the girl.  
  
"I'm sorry. My brother's been kind of tense, looking for a last member and with that little encounter with Rayden didn't help much. Nanashi Koji, by the way. 13." Smiled Nanashi.  
  
"Kristy Maxell. 12." Replied Kristy quietly, blushing for some unknown reason.  
  
"I'm sorry to battle you in this condition, but try your best." Said Nanashi bowing and then running to where the others were waiting.  
  
Kristy just stood there for a moment then ran after Nanashi.  
  
"Okay you two, ready?" stated Averus. Kristy and Nanashi nodded.  
  
"3.2.1.LET IT RIP!!"  
  
Both launched their blades at the same time, but with Kristy's injury she was a bit shaky and she cursed.  
  
Nanashi looked hesitant to attack but had to.  
  
"Azul!! Attack now!!" shouted Nanashi, and his white and blue blade headed towards the aqua and blue blade.  
  
"Get together and balance out now!! Then attack back!!" shouted Kristy at her blade severely.  
  
Her blade did as she commanded and surprising everyone around her.  
  
Both of the blades collided with each other, somehow when they rammed into each other and pushed each other back, both were shaking slightly, which had raised eyebrows all around them.  
  
"ATTACK NOW KITTIEFAE!!" shouted Kristy, "GLITTER SNOW!!"  
  
A cat with ice blue wings appeared and stared spreading snow at Azul's direction.  
  
"What!? She has a bit-beast!?" shouted Trista.  
  
"It would seem so." Averus added amused.  
  
Vincent just remained quiet. He knew his brother was trying hard not to injury the blade too much. Heh, that's just like him.  
  
"AZUL!! DEFEND WITH SHIRO WALL NOW!!" cried Nanashi determinedly.  
  
Just as the attack from KitteFae was about to hit Azul, a white wall surrounded Azul and the attack hit it and repelled back to KitteFae with double the force and hit dead on.  
  
"KitteFae!! Go!!" shouted Kristy.  
  
"Azul come out!!" added Nanashi.  
  
"ATTACK NOW!!" they both shouted in unison and the blades collided with sparks flying everywhere and one out of the dish.  
  
Kristy cursed at failing and picked up her blade as Nanashi's returned to his hand.  
  
"Nice job shadow blade." Grinned Vincent walking up to her.  
  
"Eh? Sha.Shadow Blade? Me?" Kristy said confused. Vincent nodded.  
  
"Have you heard of us?" added Vincent.  
  
"Yeah!! How could I not. The Shadow Blades are suppose to be the Keepers of the Northside Alleys.but an alley gang actually wanting me." Kristy replied, saying the last part quietly.  
  
"We need someone like you. All the other northside bladers can't even come close to you and you're about as stubborn as any of here," stated Vincent.  
  
"Especially my brother." Grinned Nanashi. Vincent stared at Nanashi.  
  
"AND even though you're kind of are the weakest here, you make it up with your attitude." Finished Vincent. Kristy didn't know if she should be happy with the comment of insulted.  
  
"Thank you very much shadow blader for having me on your team. I'll try and live up to your reputation." Replied Kristy bowing.  
  
"I hope so. Alright, you know me as the "Shadow Blader", but my real name's Vincent Koji."  
  
"Nice to have you here. Name's Averus SilentStorm."  
  
"Trista Kansaki."  
  
"You already know me!!" grinned Nanashi.  
  
"My name's Kristy Maxell.  
  
Then Trista and Averus left the roof of the apartment and went into it and Vincent followed them. That left Nanashi and Kristy on the roof alone.  
  
"Ano.Kristy how's your arm?" asked Nanashi after a couple of minutes of silence.  
  
"It's.alright." Replied Kristy rubbing her arm and looking at the floor.  
  
"If I may ask, how did you end up with it in that condition?" added Nanashi. He saw Kristy tense and her eyes clouded up slightly.  
  
"Not now Nanashi. I'll tell you some other time. Alright?" replied Kristy pleadingly.  
  
Nanashi understood.  
  
"Sure!! C'mon you any good at video games?" he asked grinning and pulling Kristy back into the apartment.  
  
"Video games? Why?" she asked.  
  
************************************************************  
  
"AH!! No fair Nanashi!! You beat me again!!" wailed Kristy as she stared at the screen as it said "YOU LOSE PLAYER 2!!"  
  
Apparently they were playing some sort of fighting game, and every time she chooses a different character, she still got beaten by Nanashi. For the fifth time!!  
  
"Heheheh, wanna go another round?" grinned Nanashi.  
  
"Of course!! You're going down Kojii!!" shouted Kristy as they began again.  
  
"Aren't those two going to give it up?" Trista asked Averus in the kitchen who was making dinner.  
  
"I don't think so." Replied Averus, "or at least until Kristy beats Nanashi at that game."  
  
Vincent watched them from a chair near by looking through some pictures, and had to grin that Nanashi had a friend he always play around with, since he wasn't around as much as he wished he could be.  
  
"C'mon I almost gotcha!! Do it now!!" shouted Kristy.  
  
"Not so fast Kristy!! Take this!!" shouted Nanashi pushing a couple of buttons and Kristy's character was destroyed.  
  
"Awww man!!  
  
"YO GUYS!! DINNER'S READY!!" shouted Averus.  
  
Kristy and Nanashi perked up and shut off the game and cleaned up.  
  
"Hey Nanashi." Kristy asked grinning.  
  
"What is it?" he replied.  
  
"RACE YOU TO THE KITCHEN!!" laughed Kristy getting a head start.  
  
"WHAT!? OI KRISTY THAT'S NOT FAIR YOU GOT A HEAD START!!" shouted Nanashi running after her laughing.  
  
Vincent got up and laughed quietly and followed the laughing kids into the kitchen.  
  
************************************************************  
  
It had been a while since the Shadow Blades have come together and now it was a nice white winter in the apartment. Apparently something has been bothering Vincent since winter got started, so he called the Shadow Blades together, except for Nanashi who was still asleep, to meet him in the kitchen one Tuesday morning.  
  
"So why'd you call us here Vincent?" asked Averus yawning and getting breakfast started.  
  
"Look, you guys have been wondering why I've been so.different since winter started right?" Vincent replied. There was a shake of heads in agreement.  
  
"Well, this Saturday is Nanashi's 14th birthday." Replied Vincent.  
  
"REALLY!?" the other three replied.  
  
"SHHHHH!!" Vincent said quickly.  
  
"So what did you want to do?" asked Trista.  
  
"The thing is, I'm going to be gone getting Nanashi something so I'll be gone for maybe three days the most. I'm leaving today and I want you guys to see if you can prepare the decorations and food. Is that alright?" asked Vincent.  
  
"Sure. Nanashi's a sweet kid. He deserves one." Grinned Averus.  
  
"Ditto to that." Smiled Trista.  
  
"We'll do it for sweet Nanashi-chan!!" giggled Kristy.  
  
"Alright, but one of you needs to keep Nanashi occupied so he doesn't get suspicious. Kristy you want the job?" asked Vincent.  
  
"Me? Sure!!" grinned Kristy happily.  
  
"Alright, I'll see you guys later. I should be back by Friday." Stated Vincent as he finished off his breakfast and got up and left.  
  
"Okay. Averus and I will get the supplies and Kristy will distract Nanashi. Not that it shouldn't be hard for her to do that." Smirked Trista glancing at Kristy who had just turned crimson.  
  
"Hey Trista!! What do you mean by that comment!?" Kristy replied hotly.  
  
"I think she means that you might have a CRUSH on little Nanashi Kojii." Grinned Averus.  
  
"Hey not you too Averus!?" Kristy said, "Why are you picking on me?"  
  
Averus and Trista laughed as Kristy pouted. Soon the kitchen door opened and Nanashi came yawning in.  
  
"Morning guys? Hey where's my brother?" wondered Nanashi as he looked around.  
  
"Sorry kid, but your brother had to leave for a couple of days to get something." Replied Averus setting some food in front of Nanashi.  
  
"Oh. He didn't even say good-bye to me?" Nanashi said softly slowly eating his pancakes.  
  
"Hey Nanashi, the whole city is filled with snow. You wanna go out?" asked Kristy grinning.  
  
Nanashi seemed to turned brighter, at the mention of getting out of the apartment.  
  
"Okay!! Lemme just finish this off then we can go to the park near-by!!" grinned Nanashi now finishing off his pancakes, with Kristy following him.  
  
Once they were finished they put on their jackets, scarves, and gloves then ran out of the apartment laughing.  
  
"Okay Averus you ready to go shopping for those decorations?" Trista said cleaning up the table. Averus nodded and soon they too left.  
  
************************************************************  
  
"GET BACK HERE YOU BAKA!!" shouted Kristy chasing after a laughing Nanashi.  
  
Kristy and Nanashi had made it to the park fine and were in a secluded area just playing around. At first they made some snowmen with some sticks they found for arms and rocks for eyes and mouth. But soon Nanashi grew tired of this and quietly made a snowball and threw it a Kristy who shrieked and chased after the laughing red-headed boy.  
  
"NANASHI JUST WAIT UNTIL I GET YOU!!" shouted Kristy throwing snowballs at Nanashi's back and missing every short.  
  
"Nyaaa!! You're going to have to aim better Kristy if you ever wanna get ME with a snowball!!" laughed Nanashi.  
  
As Kristy tried to catch up with Nanashi, she suddenly tripped and fell into the snow.  
  
"WHOA!!" she shouted as she landed. Nanashi heard the yell and turned around and saw Kristy down and ran back to her.  
  
"Kristy!! You alright?" Nanashi asked worried. As he was right by her side he turned her over and she opened her hazel eyes and saw that she was staring into worried teal eyes. She turned red embarrassed at how close their faces were and then once they did notice, they jumped apart.  
  
"Ah.you.alright?" Nanashi asked again.  
  
Kristy just nodded and Nanashi helped her up and once she was she, grinned and grabbed the back of Nanashi's shirt and threw some snow in there and Nanashi danced around trying to get the snow out.  
  
"YEOW!! COLD!! COLDCOLDCOLDCOLDCOLD!! KRISTY-CHAN!!" shouted Nanashi, as he danced around. Kristy fell to the ground laughing as she watched him.  
  
'Although, he really is adorable when he cares like that.' Thought Kristy as Azul had come out and was helping calming Nanashi down and getting the snow out.  
  
'And he's really sweet in addition.' She added giggling at the thought.  
  
//So you DO like him//  
  
Kristy blushed.  
  
//KittyFae!! How long have you been there!?// thought Kristy wildly.  
  
// *giggles*, not long mistress, just long enough to see if you have a crush on the little Kojii boy//  
  
//Why does everyone think I like Nanashi!?//  
  
//You always hang around him, you both goof around each other, he seems to take a special liking to you, he acts differently when you're around, you always seem to blush when he comes and helps you, same with him.//  
  
"Mou Geez!! Alright!! Alright!! I admit it!! I have a crush on him!!" cried Kristy not noticing that she shouted out the last part.  
  
//Uh Mistress, you just shouted out that last part, kind of loudly if I may add.// said KittyFae sweat-dropping.  
  
'Awww kuso!!' thought Kristy as she looked over to where Nanashi was, she squeaked when she saw that Nanashi was only a foot away from her now with Azul behind him.  
  
"Hey Kristy, what did you just shout out a couple seconds ago?" asked Nanashi innocently. She saw Azul grinning at her oddly and she gulped.  
  
"I'll tell you some other time." Replied Kristy sweat-dropping.  
  
'Crap!! Now Azul knows I like his master!!' Kristy thought wildly.  
  
"Hey I have an idea. Why don't you bring KittyFae out and we can have a war!! You and me against our bit-beasts!!" grinned Nanashi. Kristy laughed.  
  
"Alright fine." She laughed as KittyFae manifested itself in front of Kristy.  
  
"You know we're going to have the advantage." Smirked KitteFae as she said to Azul as Nanashi and Kristy went and built their fort.  
  
"Why?" asked Azul making snowballs.  
  
"Remember I'm an ice elemental bit-beast."  
  
Azul laughed.  
  
***********************************************************  
  
So far the plan to keep Nanashi's birthday a secret was working. While Kristy kept Nanashi busy, Averus and Trista got the decorations and each got Nanashi a gift.  
  
"Ouch!!" muttered Kristy as she was trying to sew something together. "Damn, that's the third time already. I hope this comes out right."  
  
It was a Friday afternoon and Kristy was trying to put the finishing touches on the present she was giving Nanashi.  
  
There was a knock on her door as she had just finally finished wrapping the present and hid it under her bed.  
  
"Hey Kristy Averus and Trista are out again. Wanna go ice skating in the park? They say that its frozen enough to ice skate on." Grinned Nanashi.  
  
"Ice skating? I don't know?" Kristy said.  
  
"Don't worry!! I'm pretty good at ice skating so I can teach ya." Smiled Nanashi as he walked over and grabbed Kristy's hand and pulled her out of the room and out the door. As they ran through the alleys and out to the park again, Azul and KitteFae had their own conversation.  
  
{Hey Azul, is it just me or does you master seem to like my mistress?} KitteFae asked.  
  
[It would seem so.] Grinned Azul as the two kids made it to the park.  
  
Kristy and Nanashi rented out their skates and they put their skates on and went on to the pond.  
  
"Whoa!!" shouted Kristy." Nanashi help please!!"  
  
"Okay there!! I gotcha." Smiled Nanashi as he caught her from falling back wards and onto the ice.  
  
As Kristy turned around she found herself leaning against Nanashi's surprising strong body.  
  
"Ah.thanks." Said Kristy as she tried to get her bearings on the ice.  
  
"Okay, now take my hand and just follow what I do okay?" Nanashi said and he slowly skated as Kristy grasped at Nanashi's hand tightly.  
  
"C'mon, just move your legs and don't be afraid to fall alright?" stated Nanashi.  
  
"Al.alright." Kristy replied unsure and slowly let go of Nanashi's hand and managed to skate a couple of feet away from him without falling.  
  
"Great job Kristy!! Vincent hated ice skating because he kept falling on his behind and started cursing this activity." Laughed Nanashi and Kristy joined in.  
  
It has been a couple of hours and Kristy was finally getting the hang of this when she skated a little too far off, where the ice was still a bit dangerous.  
  
"Wee!! Look at me Nanashi!! I'm getting better at this!!" grinned Kristy as she skated backwards.  
  
"That's wonderful Kristy!!" Nanashi complimented as he skated a couple of feet behind him. As Kristy turned and skated further away from Nanashi and skated to where people have been avoiding in which she didn't know why. But as she landed on it, she suddenly heard something crack underneath her.  
  
"Huh?" wondered Kristy as she looked under her. She paled. She had skated on thin ice and it was breaking underneath her. Fast.  
  
"NANASHI!!" shouted Kristy as the ice broke underneath her and she started falling under.  
  
"KRISTY!!" screamed Nanashi as he skated as fast as he could and Kristy was already sinking thanks that her skates were heavy.  
  
"PLEASE HELP NANASHI!!" cried Kristy as she plunged underneath the freezing water. She felt tired as she tried to swim back up but the skates added weight to her and she was blacking out as she fell deeper and she was almost out of breath, but she managed to look at the surface.  
  
'I'm sorry KitteFae.Averus.Trista.Vincent.especially you Nanashi. I never got to tell you.' Kristy thought as her thought trailed off. She looked up again and saw someone coming towards her. Their hair waved around as the person swam towards her desperately and its worried and terrified teal eyes stared back into her sleepy hazel eyes.  
  
'Huh.Nanashi?'  
  
Her hand was grabbed and she suddenly felt herself being pulled up towards the top again. They broke through the hole that she had originally fallen into and Azul with KitteFae helped pull them back up. They were lucky they were the only left in the ice rink.  
  
Nanashi breathed in the cold evening air as he pulled Kristy out of the water and with Azul's helped back onto the park ground on a bench. Azul took their skates to the deposit and KittyFae just sat there worried about her mistress.  
  
'Please Kristy, wake up please!! I don't want to loose another person I care so much about.' Nanashi thought as he held Kristy's shivering body closer to his trying to warm her up.  
  
'Ugh.so cold. Something's warm.' Thought Kristy as she moved closer to the heat source which happened to be Nanashi, as she did she tiredly opened her eyes and saw tearful teal eyes.  
  
"Wha.Nanashi?"  
  
"KRISTY!! OMIGOD YOU'RE ALRIGHT!!" cried Nanashi as his tears spilled down his cheeks and gave Kristy a tight hug and Kristy a bit dazed reached her arms around Nanashi's neck and hugged Nanashi back tightly.  
  
"I'm glad.that I.am.too," Replied Kristy tired. "Nanashi I.want to tell.you.that.I.like.you."  
  
She was too tired and the last part Nanashi couldn't hear very well, and Kristy and Nanashi fell asleep like that together while Azul smiled and carried them both back to the apartment with KitteFae in her blade.  
  
************************************************************  
  
It was about late in the evening on Saturday, when Kristy woke up. She noticed that she was lying on the couch and she looked to her left and she saw Nanashi sleeping right next to her and blushed a heavy red.  
  
"When you two were carried back by Azul, we couldn't separate you two at all, every time we tried, either of you just held onto each other tighter." Grinned Trista.  
  
"What!?" Kristy said as she got off the couch.  
  
She noticed that the living room was already decorated with streamers and already ready for Nanashi's 14th birthday.  
  
"It's true, even I couldn't get him awake. What happened Maxwell. Both of you had a slight fever." Asked Vincent. Kristy was surprised. Vincent sounded worried for BOTH of them and not just Nanashi.  
  
"Nanashi took me ice skating yesterday and I went farther away than I was suppose to, but I didn't see any harm in it, and then when the ice was cracking underneath me I fell and Nanashi saved me. Then when I woke up he was holding me tightly and crying. He was happy that I woke up and hugged me tightly and then I remember that I hugged him back and said.OMIGOD!!" Kristy said shrieking.  
  
"What is it?" asked Averus coming in.  
  
"It's nothing!! Don't worry about it. I just remembered something I have to get from my room." Replied Kristy running up the stairs.  
  
"Wonder what's up with her?" questioned Trista as she stared at the retreating figure.  
  
"Dunno, maybe she remembered something she did while she was dazed." Shrugged Vincent, then getting back to the decorating.  
  
Kristy slammed the door to her room and then slid down.  
  
"Oh no!! I can't believe I did that!! I can't believe I confessed my feelings for Nanashi!!" cried Kristy.  
  
//Don't worry mistress. Nanashi didn't hear that last part. You spoke too quietly.// KittyFae said reassuring her mistress.  
  
"You sure KittyFae?" Kristy asked.  
  
//I'm sure. Now you might want to join the party.// grinned KittyFae. Kristy then heard shouts of,  
  
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANASHI!!"  
  
"Yeah." Replied Kristy as she grabbed her gift and ran to join the party.  
  
Back in the living room..........  
  
"Wow!! You guys did this for me!?" cried Nanashi happily as they passed out the cake. Averus, Trista and even Vincent smiled at the happy kid.  
  
"ALRIGHT!! THIS IS GREAT!!" shouted Nanashi.  
  
Kristy then joined them and got a piece of cake. Once they were done, they went into the living room to see Nanashi open the gifts that they had gotten for him.  
  
"Thanks Averus for the cookbook." Said Nanashi leafing through it.  
  
"I thought you might like it." Grinned Averus.  
  
"Sugoi!! This is great!! Thanks for the beyblade cleaners kit and sketchbook." Smiled Nanashi.  
  
"You're very welcome Nanashi." Trista replied biting into her cake.  
  
"Here little brother.this is why I disappeared for three days." Said Vincent handing Nanashi his gift.  
  
"Hmmm.?" wondered Nanashi as he opened the box and Nanashi just stared.  
  
"Nii-chan.arigato." Said Nanashi as he pulled out his old stuffed angel that his real mother had made for him when he was only still a child. He hugged it tightly.  
  
"Okaa-san's angel plushie. I've missed this so much." Cried Nanashi.  
  
Kristy was nervous about giving Nanashi her gift. But once she was about to give it to him, there was someone knocking on their door.  
  
"Huh? Who would know where this place was?" wondered Trista out-loud as she went and opened the door. They all waited and Trista called out,  
  
"Umm, Nanashi!! Vincent!! It's for you!!' she shouted and when she came back, everyone stared at who had followed them. Familiar eyes met and started to water.  
  
A strong looking light brown haired woman with red tints in her hair and her light teal eyes watered as she stared at the kids occupying the living room, littered with the gifts Nanashi had received and the decorations. She had on a red long sleeved top with a lavender skirt as she grasped her hands together and was trying not to cry out loud.  
  
The man next to him smiled proudly as his green eyes sparkled at the sight. His dark brown hair almost covered his eyes. He wore a dark blue long sleeved shirt with blue pants and a white shot sleeved jacket.  
  
"Hikari-chan." smiled the woman.  
  
"Ya gaki." Smirked the man.  
  
Suddenly Nanashi ran up to them and hugged the woman tightly while crying out,  
  
"KARI-KAASAN!!"  
  
Kari hugged the little red-head tightly as he cried into her shirt.  
  
"Nanashi-chan. I'm so sorry we couldn't be with you for a while, but our injuries prevented that. It's thanks to your friends Azul and Arashi." Smiled Kari as she cried.  
  
Vincent's dark blond hair covered his eyes as he walked over towards the man. Once he was right in front of him he leaned forward and his head was leaning against his chest.  
  
"Pops, you're alive." Cried Vincent, as a couple of tears escaped his face.  
  
"You bet, Vincent." Smiled Squall.  
  
Trista, Averus and Kristy were left dumbfounded. THESE were Nanashi and Vincent's adopted parents!? They hardly looked anything LIKE them, expect for the eyes, at least.  
  
"That's so sweet." Said Trista smiling.  
  
"Yeah. Those two are very lucky." Added Averus.  
  
"Very lucky. I wished my adopted parents did that for me." Kristy muttered, but smiled at the scene nonetheless.  
  
*************************************************************  
  
Once the tearful reunion was done with, Kari went into the kitchen to cook everyone something while Squall explained some things he had just found out.  
  
"You mean you can't stay?" asked Nanashi.  
  
" 'Fraid not Hikari-chan. We have only a little time before we have to leave, but don't worry!! We'll visit again." Smiled Squall. Nanashi was happy.  
  
"So this is your adopted father. He's pretty cool Nanashi." Grinned Kristy.  
  
"Yeah he is!! Although he does tend to act like a kid sometimes." Laughed Nanashi.  
  
"Hey? Since when did you get a girlfriend?" asked Squall smirking. That got Nanashi and Kristy bright red in the face.  
  
"WHAT!? I'M NOT HIS/HER GIRLFRIEND/BOYFRIEND!!! WE'RE JUST FRIENDS!!" shouted Kristy and Nanashi at the same time, leaving the entire table to laugh.  
  
"I was just kidding. Anyway." started Squall, as he got up and headed towards the kitchen, leaving four kids confused. Soon they heard screaming from Kari.  
  
"VINCENT JOSHUA TRET KOJII!! YOU GET OUT OF THE KITCHEN RIGHT NOW OR I'M GOING TO GET YOU WITH MY FRYING PAN AGAIN!! AIIIEEEE!! SQUALL ADRIAN KOJII GET OUT OF HERE NOW TOO!!"  
  
"Uh oh, here it comes." Grimaced Nanashi.  
  
"Huh?" replied the other three kids.  
  
[BANG]  
  
[CLONG]  
  
[BASH]  
  
[SMACK]  
  
"DAMN WOMAN!! SORRY GEEZ!!"  
  
"MOTHER! THAT REALLY HURTS!! OKAY, OKAY!! I'M SORRY!!"  
  
As the sound effects faded they saw Vincent come out with Squall nursing their heads.  
  
"Heheheh, even after months without kaa-san, you still can't steal a piece of her meal without getting hit you two." Laughed Nanashi.  
  
Vincent and Squall just grumbled.  
  
Now Kari brought out a feast and they ate up. They enjoyed every single bit of the meal and thanked Kari again for making it. Before they left though, once everything was cleaned up, Kari and Squall explained how Azul and Arashi were elite bit-beasts, meaning they're not really normal and are a lot stronger than most normal. They were going to some research on it and left their number with Nanashi and Vincent.  
  
Nanashi got an old silver chain from Kari. She said that it originally belonged to his mother and Squall gave Nanashi some spare beyblade parts to update his blade if he wanted to. Nanashi said good-bye and they left.  
  
It was late at night and everyone but Nanashi was asleep as he kept stared at the fire and fingering the silver chain that hung around his neck, while sitting on the couch with a blanket around him.  
  
"Nanashi?"  
  
"Huh? Oh hi Kristy. What're you doing up so late?" asked Nanashi.  
  
"I.wanted to give you your gift." Replied Kristy handing it to him as she sat down next to him fiddling with her fingers nervously.  
  
Nanashi quietly opened the gift and gasped at it. It was an angel plushie, but not just any angel, it was Azul. It even held a little plastic sword.  
  
"Kristy.did you make this?" asked Nanashi breathlessly.  
  
"Uh huh. I thought you might like it." Grinned Kristy.  
  
"I love it. It's one of the greatest things I could've gotten. Thanks Kristy." Said Nanashi as he turned towards Kristy and Kristy was going to say something but was silenced when Nanashi kissed her briefly on the lips. Her eyes widened but she kind of enjoyed it. He blushed.  
  
"Um.sorry about that Kristy," said Nanashi, "I kind of meant to get your cheek, but you turned and.well.huh?"  
  
Now Nanashi was silenced by Kristy kissing Nanashi shortly on the lips, and once they were apart they were both blushing heavily.  
  
"Like the old saying," giggled Kristy as she leaned on Nanashi's shoulder falling asleep as he put the blanket around her. "An eye for an eye."  
  
"And a tooth for a tooth. G'night Kristy." Smiled Nanashi and they both fell asleep in each other's arms in front of the fire.  
  
************************************************************  
  
*Falls off of desk chair*  
  
OMIGOD THAT WAS SOOOOO LONG!? This is the longest story I wrote without chapters!! Hey Mystic-water? Sorry!! I kind of took some scenes from you fic and altered them a bit in here, I'm really sorry!! But I hope all of you who enjoy "The Street Blader" like this fic.  
  
*Gasps*  
  
This thing nearly took me a week and a half to write!! I hate it when I get distracted!! Anyway, hope you read and review!! And "The Street Blader" rules!!  
  
See ya!! 


	2. Fading Light: Proluge

I own only Vincent and the made up characters in here. The characters like Averus and Trista belong to their rightful owners and not me. This is an AU fic for the story before this one. So you must read that one before you can understand this one. One more thing, in this one though, Street already owns the alleys. Also, there are slight yaoi between Alexander and Vincent and some friendship moments between Street and Vincent. That's about it; I don't own beyblade and never will and remember to R and R please!! ************************************************************************  
  
What if during the fire, in which threatened the Shadow Blader's life and his little brother's, instead of them coming out of the fire barely unharmed and only loosing their parents, what if something more drastic happened that altered the Shadow Blader's life? During the fire, the bit- beasts known as Azul and Arashi Had saved their masters from certain doom and brought them to safety. But during that one moment in time, Nanashi, the Shadow Blader's younger brother and his bit-beast Azul mysterious disappeared as certain doom was heading towards the two. Vincent being held back by Arashi was devastated at loosing his last bit of his family. But when they had heard a report of the house that was once theirs, the bodies of the three that were suppose to be burned and charred were not found. That small report gave Vincent a Small light of hope as he believed that Squall, Kari and most of all Nanashi were still alive.  
  
**************************************************************************** ******* 


	3. Fading Light: Dreams

The crashing of flames as they roared. The fury they brought as they burned everything in their path way. A scared figure of a young boy was stuck in the middle of it, surround and no way to escape. He was paralyzed with fear as he couldn't find his way out. Looking around desperately and saw another figure trying to get to him.  
  
"HELP ME PLEASE!!" the trapped boy shouted trying to get to the running figure.  
  
"I'M COMING!! DON'T WORRY!!" the other replied.  
  
The fire was getting worse as the running figure was getting multiple burns on his arms and the fire was enclosing on the poor boy to scared to move. As the running figure was almost an arm reach distance to the scared boy, something cracked from above. A wooden pillar was coming down towards them fast. Before the running figure could think, he was pulled back by and held tightly.  
  
"LEMME GO ARASHI!! LEMME GO!! I HAFTA SAVE HIM!! ARASHI!!"  
  
Arashi struggled to hold in the boy, but he saw that a blue blur was heading towards the scared boy and nodded. But then paled when the blur made it to the boy, but the pillar came crashing on top of the two of them. Arashi used his other arm to shield his eyes from the blast and looked. Both were afraid but it was too late. There didn't seem to be any signs of life and they had to get out of here.  
  
"We must leave now master." Arashi said sadly taking flight.  
  
"NNNOOO!!! ARASHI HE'S STILL ALIVE!! I KNOW IT!! NANASHI!!"  
  
*************************************  
  
" NANSHI!!"  
  
The figure in the bed sprang up sweating breathing rapidly. His dark blond hair was stuck to his face by the sweat and raising a quivering hand to his face trying to recall the dream. He shook his head and looked at the electric clock by his bed.  
  
'Two in the morning? Damn. I haven't been getting enough freakin sleep lately.' He thought. He looked at his arms as they were still bandaged from his wrists to the middle of his arm.  
  
"Why. I know he didn't die!! Azul wouldn't let him but what happened!! Is that damn nightmare always haunting me because I couldn't save him!?" he shouted to no one and fell back onto his bed. His green eyes glaring at the ceiling.  
  
"Two years. Two whole damn bloody year!! I know I'll find him one day." He muttered as he slowly fell back to sleep.  
  
"I'll find you little brother." Sighed Vincent  
  
~~~The Next Morning~~~~  
  
"Ohayao Minn~a!!" chirped a rather perky Kristy Maxell. She waved to Averus who was at the stove and grinned at Trista who just sat down at the table.  
  
"Ohayao Kristy. I'm almost done with breakfast and we can eat as soon as Vincent is here." Smiled Averus as he turned off the stove and placed some freshly made bacon and pancakes.  
  
"Yummy!!" grinned Kristy.  
  
"Hold you horses Kristy!! Averus said we had to wait for Vincent." Said Trista.  
  
"But I can't, on account that you're the one that has a horse." Smirked Kristy.  
  
"Oi!! Are you making fun of Dominion!?" shouted Trista.  
  
"If that's what you think." Replied Kristy.  
  
"Why you." growled Trista a  
  
"Okay, okay. We don't need this so early in the morning you two." Stated Averus.  
  
They two just growled at each other again and sat down. They waited a few more minutes and a tired Vincent walked in rubbing his head. He was rubbing his forehead and slowly got his coffee and sat down across from Averus and next to Kristy.  
  
"Damn." Muttered Vincent still rubbing his forehead.  
  
"Vincent, what's wrong?" asked Kristy eating her pancakes.  
  
"I haven't had a decent sleep for a while and it's starting to get annoying." Grumbled Vincent as he tiredly drank his coffee.  
  
"Maybe that's why you're drinking coffee powder, you forgot to add the water." Stated Averus.  
  
"Wha? DAMMNIT NOT AGAIN!!" yelled Vincent as he went to the sink and spat out the coffee power and added hot water to what was left in his mug. Trista and Kristy had stopped eating and looking at their leader.  
  
"Are you sure you're alright? You seem really out of it Vincent." Said Trista as she finished up her pancakes.  
  
"Yeah. Usually you don't utter a word to us in the morning." Added Kristy as she bit into her toast.  
  
"It's nothing." Grumbled Vincent as he finally got the coffee he needed ate his breakfast. The others looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders and finished eating their breakfast quietly. Once they finished and were cleaning up, Vincent got up and muttered something and was about to leave the apartment.  
  
"I always wondered where you go, can we come Vincent?" asked Kristy.  
  
"KRISTY!?" shouted Averus and Trista.  
  
Vincent looked at them for a minute and sighed.  
  
"Don't lag; I won't slow down if you do. It's gonna take a while so keep up." Was all he said and walked out the door.  
  
The other three just stood their wide-eyed that Vincent actually agreed with Kristy. They got over their initial shock and started shouting for Vincent to wait for them, as they grabbed their shoes and jackets and ran outside.  
  
"OI!! VINCENT CHOTTO MATTE!!"  
  
"Geez, you think we'd be use to this by now."  
  
"Well, I am rather curious into where Vincent disappears to."  
  
They saw Vincent disappear around a corner and shouted,  
  
"HEY WAIT FOR US!!"  
  
***************************  
  
"Vin~cent, where are we going?" moaned Kristy, "are we there yet? I'm getting hungry"  
  
"Oh stop your complaining Kristy!!" replied an annoyed Trista. Kristy glared.  
  
"This coming from you, the person who was muttering curses of why she bothered to follow when she could have stayed home?" Kristy replied.  
  
Then a heated argument erupted from the two girls again and it was still in the morning. Averus stared at the girls and then tried to act like the peacemaker.  
  
Vincent sighed. He should have known better than to let Kristy and the others go with him, as he knew Kristy didn't enjoy long walks. Especially to destinations unknown.  
  
"Will the two of you just be quiet for more than a damn hour!!" shouted Vincent. That shut the girls up pretty quickly and Averus sighed in relief and as they continued walking, Averus got in stride with Vincent.  
  
"So where ARE we heading, if I may so bold as to ask?" Averus asked.  
  
"..my old neighborhood." Was all Vincent said and quickened his pace, leaving Averus gaping.  
  
'His old neighborhood!? For as long as I've known Vincent the most he says about his neighborhood is /that place/. Why would he want to go back there?' thought Averus confused as he then went to catch up to Vincent.  
  
Trista and Kristy stopped their glaring when they saw Averus run ahead and noticed how far behind they are to the two of them.  
  
"OI!! WHAT'S WITH THE SUDDEN RUSH!!" shouted Trista running.  
  
"GUYS!! WAIT FOR US!!" added Kristy running after Trista.  
  
As everyone finally caught up to their leader, Vincent suddenly halted making Averus crash into him, Trista into Averus and Kristy into Trista.  
  
"Hey Vincent, why'd you stop?" asked Trista rubbing her nose.  
  
"It's this school." Vincent said growling.  
  
Averus looked around the corner to take a peek at the school. He whistle, it was huge. It was about three or four stories high and was attached to two other buildings on each side. The outside sports fields were enormous. In front of the buildings was a huge grass field with trees and a rather large black gate surrounding it.  
  
"So what's wrong with this school?" asked Averus. He really didn't see any problems with the school, actually in his own opinion it looked like a NICE school.  
  
"It's not THE school, it's a someone inside. Remember that time when I said I was going to buy the supplies, since it was my turn that one week?" Vincent replied.  
  
"Yeah. You were wearing that school uniform and looked pissed." Trista replied back.  
  
"Well the thing is. That school is very demanding at wanting kids exceeding and they're very strict when it comes to education." Vincent stated.  
  
"And that would have to do with you and the supplies.how?" asked Kristy confused.  
  
"Well, I had finally found all the things on the list that Averus had given me that day and as I was walking back from the store." started Vincent.  
  
****Flashback***  
  
It was early in the morning and Vincent was coming back from a store for supplies for his team.  
  
"Well, It is my turn to get them." He said to himself. As he rounded a corner he saw a huge school and a large black gate. A lot of kids were piling to get through the gate.  
  
"Okay, I think I got everything." Vincent said talking to him self as he carried two plastic bags in his hands and looking at the list in the other hand. As he was walking by a familiar black gate a man wearing a suit and glasses walking by the gate on the school's field and saw Vincent walking by with the supplies.  
  
"Hey you!! Kid!!" shouted the man walking to the gate.  
  
Vincent stopped and raised an eyebrow as he saw the man walking towards him.  
  
"What?" Vincent asked bluntly and annoyed.  
  
"How old are you kid?" replied the man. Vincent just stared at the man.  
  
"Why should I tell you old man?" he replied frowning.  
  
"Ho.how dare you!! I'm the highly and respected Principal Domino Hajime of Serikyuu high school which." boasted Principal Hajime.  
  
"IN WHICH I DO NOT CARE IN THE LEAST OLD MAN!!" shouted Vincent pleasantly pissed at the principal.  
  
Principal Hajime stared back at the pissed Vincent and straitened his tie and asked some more questions.  
  
"What's you name?"  
  
"I ain't tellin' ya old man."  
  
"Where do you live?"  
  
"In an apartment."  
  
"Who're you family?"  
  
"None of your business"  
  
"Are they with you now?"  
  
"They've disappeared for a while."  
  
"So you live alone?"  
  
"Not exactly."  
  
"Then you live with your parents."  
  
"No. I live with some others. My team."  
  
"Your team? I'll ask you again. How old are you?"  
  
"*sigh* Fine. If it'll shut your damn flapping jaws I'm fifteen years old."  
  
When the principal heard this he was applaud.  
  
'Fifteen!! And this kid is living by himself with some OTHERS!?' Principal Hajime thought to himself and jumping to conclusions.  
  
Principal Hajime walked up to the annoyed Vincent and started to pull him into the school. Vincent protested and started to get out of the man's grip, it would've been easier if he didn't have the supplies but he did, and couldn't get out of the grip as easily as he would have usually been able to.  
  
"Hey old man!! Let go of me right now!! I have to get back to my apartment!! My friends are waiting for me!!" shouted Vincent, causing people to stare at the blond.  
  
"Why's Principal Hajime pulling that struggling boy into the schoolyard?"  
  
"I dunno, but he can't be from this school or any other, 'cause he doesn't have a uniform."  
  
"I don't care really, who he is, but he's HANDSOME!!"  
  
"Old man let go!! My friends are expecting me!!" Vincent said kicking the principal in the shins, releasing him from the grip.  
  
"Don't you EVER drag me anywhere!!" shouted Vincent. All the principal did was just staring at him smugly.  
  
"You know, I could always call the POLICE and have them deal with a young fifteen year old not in school and had just 'bought' supplies." Replied Principal Hajime folding his arms.  
  
"What're you implying?" Vincent retorted glaring.  
  
"I'll just have them come over and take you away and YOU can explain why you're not in school." Principal Hajime told.  
  
"WHAT!? YOU BASTARD THAT'S NOT RIGHT!! I PAID FOR THESE AND I HAVE THE RECIET TO PROVE IT!!" Vincent yelled making a fist and getting ready to punch the teacher out.  
  
"Yes, but who do you think they'll believe more? You or me?" he replied smugly.  
  
"You damn city bastards are all the same aren't you? Always looking for a quick way to win." Muttered Vincent angrily and followed the smug principal to the office.  
  
'What!? I can't go to the police for a thousands reasons!! For one they will need my parents and I can't exactly say that they're not here and if they hear that, then they might send me to some stupid foster home. Kuso!! Street better not hear of this or else someone's gonna get hurt." Vincent thought darkly.  
  
They entered the office and the principal took Vincent to the secretary.  
  
"Now Mizuki-san will take you though the process to get into the school." Said Principal Hajime and he walked towards his office and Vincent gave him the finger while his back was turned and then glared at the secretary.  
  
"I saw what happened and I can't blame you. So don't take it out on me please, I'm nothing like that man." Replied Mizuki-san as she turned towards her computer.  
  
Vincent eased up on his glare but still didn't trust the woman quite yet.  
  
"Alright, fill these out and answer the questions." Said Mizuki as she handed him a test book and pencil.  
  
Vincent promptly sat down and put the bags down by his feet and opened the book and started filling in answers.  
  
'What the? This stuff is easy!!' Vincent thought as he went through the book rather quickly and then handed it back to Mizuki-san. She took it and ran it through the computer and raised an eyebrow.  
  
"My. You're quite smart. Your score is perfect you got every answer right. Did you ever go to school?" she asked.  
  
"I was home schooled." Replied Vincent leaning back in his chair. 'When the hell can I get outta here!?'  
  
"Okay now to fill out your student Id. Name?" asked Mizuki-san.  
  
"Vin.Joshua Arashi." Replied Vincent.  
  
//WHAT!? MASTER VINCENT! WHY'RE YOU USING MY NAME!?// wailed Arashi from his blade.  
  
//Arashi not now and don't be such a baby!! It's just for now!!// Vincent mentally shouted back.  
  
"Alright, age?"  
  
"Fifteen years old."  
  
"Home phone number?"  
  
"Not available."  
  
"Parent's name?"  
  
"I don't wanna talk."  
  
"*sigh* I guess we can leave that info out. Alright, here's you schedule and your locker number and also your school uniform. There's a bathroom right there and you can go and change in there." Replied Mizuki.  
  
"...arigatou Mizuki-san." Was all Vincent said as he got up and left the room and went into the bathroom.  
  
//Master Vincent why don't you just leave now? // Arashi asked.  
  
// I would, but unfortunately it would look a bit suspicious of a student was suddenly seen leaving the building. The school is too damn huge!!// Vincent replied back.  
  
//You may have a point. The school is a bit ridiculously huge. I wonder how Street would react if she saw you here and wearing that. // Arashi grinning.  
  
//Don't you DARE even mention this to ANYONE!! I'll tell it if I want to alright and I KNOW of your conversations with Dominion, Kittefae and the others.// growled Vincent.  
  
//But Master Vincent, you never told me what STREET would think. // laughed Arashi.  
  
Vincent only growled and walked out of the bathroom. The school uniform was just a long sleeved buttoned up collared dark blue shirt and dark blue pants. He looked at a near by clock and saw that he still had some time before the first class started and went walking towards his locker and ignoring all the stares he was getting as he made it to his locker and dumped the supplies in there and raised an eyebrow as he saw all the books he'll need in here. Then he walked off to the class and talking with Arashi, which he slipped into his pocket.  
  
//She'd probably ask why I got caught by some stupid old man and laugh at me wearing this damn uniform.// muttered Vincent turning red in embarrassment as he thought about Street finding out about this.  
  
//Yes, and how your rival would think if he saw his opponent being dragged by some aging adult. // smirked Arashi.  
  
// DAMMIT ARASHI!! DON'T EVEN MENTION THAT BAKA KOINU ALEXANDER TO ME!! AND IF YOU EVEN MENTION A WORD TO HIS BIT-BEAST TRANSECX YOU CAN FORGET ABOUT ME MAKING THOSE MOOCHI CAKES YOU SEEM TO LOVE SO MUCH!!// Vincent roared back at Arashi turning red in the cheeks in doing so.  
  
// Awww Vincent!! You used that ADORABLE nickname for Alexander again!!// smirked Arashi. Then he remembered the other part of what Vincent had shouted to him. // He~ey wait a minute..AHHH VINCENT THAT'S HITTING BELOW THE BELT!!// he said whining.  
  
//Then shut up before you distract me. I'm in front of the classroom.// Vincent said and knocked on the classroom door.  
  
"Come in!!" the teacher said.  
  
((Kristy: Vincent, what's the whole point to this?))  
  
((Trista: Just listen you baka!!))  
  
((Averus: So why do you hate this school so much?))  
  
((Vincent: I basically ignored everything until that damn Principal came looking for me, and said some things to me that really pissed me off.))  
  
It was lunch break and everyone was outside eating and talking, everyone that is but Vincent. He was sitting by himself eating an apple underneath a Sakura tree. Then a small kid that looked to be about a freshman came running towards him.  
  
"Umm.ano.Arashi-san." he asked.  
  
"What is it?" Vincent asked, looking at him. He didn't mean to sound so cold to him and he gave the kid an easy look and he relaxed.  
  
"It's the principal Arashi-san, he's looking for you." He replied.  
  
"Feh. The old man. Now what does he want." Spat Vincent standing.  
  
Apparently the kid didn't have to reply, because the principal came right towards him, with Mizuki-san right behind him and she was trying to stop the seemingly angry principal.  
  
"JOSHUA ARASHI!!" he shouted and stopped right in front of him and the kid backed away and went next to Mizuki-san who was glaring at the principal.  
  
"What is it old man. I'm here aren't I?" growled Vincent.  
  
"Why didn't you give the two most important info for Mizuki-san?" he asked.  
  
"Because I didn't want to talk about them. The phone number would've been invalid and I'm not about to talk about my parents to YOU." Replied Vincent hotly.  
  
The principal smirked.  
  
"So you really were abandoned weren't you." He said smirking. That hit a nerve, but Vincent didn't say anything. This only egged the principal on insulted Vincent.  
  
"PRINCIPAL HAJIME!! THIS IS A VOLIATION OF THE STUDENT'S PERSONAL LIFE!!" shouted Mizuki disgusted. The kid next to Mizuki could only watch on as he didn't have any words to say.  
  
"So they just dropped you off and left on some little fling, or maybe they were tired of a little brat like you and just got up and left." Grinned Principal Hajime. Every single word bit into Vincent like a bad sting and making Vincent more irritable and more furious. Suddenly the principal said the worst thing he could've said to Vincent finally making him snap.  
  
"Or maybe you so called father was a stupid drunkard and your mother was nothing but a damn whore where she." Principal Hajime said, but was cut off by someone punching him in the jaw.  
  
"SHUT UP!! SHUT UP YOU STUPID FUCKING BASTARD!! HOW DARE YOU..YOU KNOW NOTHING!!" Shouted Vincent enraged by what he had said about his real parents, Squall and Kari Kojii and catching the attention of every student in the school yard.  
  
Vincent punched him in the jaws and the ribs repeatedly and kicked him away from him. He stomped over and grabbed the man by his collar and growled at him.  
  
"Don't you EVER come within my sight again, or I'm going to kill you." Growled Vincent nearly choking him and dropping him down. He walked back to the tree and grabbed his stuff and headed towards the gate.  
  
"St.stop him." Gasped out the principal but Mizuki just turned her head away from him.  
  
"You deserved every single one Principal Hajime. Come on Tori let's go." Stated Mizuki.  
  
"Hai sensei." Replied Tori sadly for some reason and followed Mizuki.  
  
****End of Flashback***  
  
By the time Vincent had finished telling them the story, they managed to pass the school with out any disturbances and were now walking down a street and nearing a neighborhood. Averus, Trista and Kristy all looked at the houses that were around here. They were all two stories and very nice. But when they made it to where Vincent had stopped they just stared.  
  
"Vin.Vincent this was your old house." Questioned Trista gawking.  
  
"Are you sure?" added Kristy.  
  
"Like I said. This is the house in which I use to live in.with my family." Vincent replied as he muttered out the last part and started walking towards the rubble and started rummaging through it.  
  
The other followed him and started to follow Vincent's example as he was moving the burnt wood and dusting away ashes.  
  
"What're we looking for Vincent?" asked Kristy as she and Averus lifted up a rather large piece of wood and Trista looked under it as they through it aside.  
  
"This is the last time I'm coming here, because I picked up everything I could that was left here. There's only one more thing I hafta find. It's a stuffed doll. Don't ask just look for one." Replied Vincent.  
  
"You mean this thing?" Kristy asked as she held up a slightly burnt stuffed doll that supposedly looked like an angel at one time.  
  
"Yes!! That's the one Kristy. Thanks. Now I just have to repair it." Vincent said smiling and looked over the doll.  
  
"Yo.You.repair that? As in sewing?" Trista and Kristy asked, and imaging Vincent trying to sew.  
  
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! THAT'S JUST TOO HILARIOUS!!" laughed Trista and Kristy to tears.  
  
"Just thinking about it is making me laugh!!" Trista said giggling.  
  
"I can imagine him getting frustrated with just the thread!! AHAHAHAHA!!" added Kristy.  
  
Averus sweat-dropped as he looked at the laughing girls and Vincent turning dark. Suddenly he looked up and was smiling maliciously at the girls. Who sweat-dropped and starting backing away.  
  
"I SHOW YOU FUNNY WHEN I GET YOU TWO!!" shouted Vincent and started chasing the laughing Trista and Kristy back to the apartment.  
  
"GET BACK HERE YOU TWO!!" shouted Vincent waving his fist around.  
  
"SORRY VINCENT!! I JUST CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT YOU SEWING!!" shouted Trista.  
  
"YEAH!! I MEAN COME ON!! AVERUS ALREADY COOKS AND YOU SEWING WOULD MAKE YOU TWO MORE FEMININE!!" added Kristy laughing more at the thought.  
  
Now Averus was loosing his cool and started running after them with Vincent.  
  
"MAXELL!!! KANASAKI!! GET BACK HERE!!" Vincent and Averus shouted.  
  
**************************************************************************** *********  
End of Chapter One  
  
**************************************************************************** ********* 


	4. Fading Light: Beating around the Bush

Yea!! Some people actually like my fic!! Thanks a lot Lunar Heart. And Rinrin-Chikage this story is an Alternate universe meaning this is an idea of what would happen to Vincent if Nanashi wasn't around. Anyway some of the people may seem out of character and I'm sorry if you don't like it. But Street is owned by Lunar Heart, as Averus, Trista and any others that aren't created by me belong to their rightful creators. Hope you enjoy chapter 2 and please remember to R and R!! **************************************************************************** *****  
  
"Trista!! What're you doing!?"  
  
"I'm making hard boiled eggs for the salad."  
  
"You don't put eggs in there!!"  
  
"Why not?"  
  
*click*  
  
*Bee~ee~eep*  
  
"AIIEEE!! TAKE COVER!! NEKO-GIRLS AND CATS FIRST!!"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"KKKKAAAAAABBBBBOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!!"  
  
"AW MAN!! WHY DIDN'T YOU WARN ME KRISTY!?"  
  
"I TRIED TO TRISTA YOU BAKA!! YOU NEVER PUT EGGS INTO A MICROEWAVE!!"  
  
"THEN HOW ELSE ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO MAKE HARD BOILD EGGS!!  
  
"IN WATER!!! YOU IDIOIT!!"  
  
"WHAT ABOUT YOU!! KRISTY WHAT ARE YOU ADDING TO THE STIR FRY!?"  
  
"I'M ADDING SOME WINE FOR TASTE!! IT SAYS SO RIGHT HERE!!"  
  
" YOU'RE RIGHT IT DOES SAY THAT BUT WHAT YOU'RE HOLDING ISN'T WINE!! IT'S VEGATABLE OIL!!"  
  
"Uh oh.."  
  
"PHWOOSSSSSSSHHHHHHH!!!"  
  
"AIIEEE THE FOOD IS ON FIRE!! PUT IT OUT!! PUT IT OUT!!"  
  
"ACK!! THERE!! Awww man!! Now I hafta make that all over again."  
  
"NOW who's the baka? Kristy now you start over on the stir fry while I'll try to use the blender and boil the eggs."  
  
"Hai.Uhhhh Trista I think you forgot something on the blender." Replied Kristy nervously backing away from Trista's spot.  
  
"What could I POSSIBLEY forget?" Trista retorted pressing the start button. As soon as she did, the mixture was flying all over the place.  
  
"MAYBE THE TOP FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!" shouted Kristy using a frying pan as a shield.  
  
"AWW KUSO!!"  
  
There was a lot more noise coming from the kitchen with Trista and Kristy trying to cook. Meanwhile Vincent and Averus were sitting on the couch reading, or at least trying to. Vincent was smirking at all the noises that was coming from the kitchen while Averus sweatdropped.  
  
"Vincent.are you sure this is safe?" Averus asked and hearing another mess being made with the shrieks of the two girls.  
  
Vincent shrugged.  
  
"Hey, it was your suggestion to let them cook dinner tonight. Besides, anything they break I can fix later so don't worry." Replied Vincent turning back to the book he was reading.  
  
"It's not that, I'm worried about how the food is gonna taste." Replied Averus.  
  
Vincent tensed.  
  
"Oh boy. You got a point there." He stated.  
  
"AIIIEEEE!! THIS STINKS!! NOW WHAT!!" shouted Trista.  
  
"YOU GIRLS KNOW, ANY MESS YOU MAKE IN THERE YOU HAVE TO CLEAN UP!!" shouted Vincent.  
  
There was a moment of silence until two cries in unison were heard.  
  
"AAAAAHHHHH KISAMA!!!"  
  
Vincent and Averus laughed.  
  
About a hour later...  
  
Trista and Kristy walked out of now cleaned kitchen with the food on the table. Although the kitchen was cleaned, the two girls looked like a real mess. Trista had bits of egg yolk in her brown hair and stuck on some of her clothes with some flour and bits of vegetables also on her clothes. Kristy had some burnt rice and other stuff all over her, along with some whip cream on her also. Once Vincent and Averus got a good look at the two, they couldn't help but laugh.  
  
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"  
  
Both Vincent and Averus fell off of the couch and onto the floor laughing at the poor misfits of what the girls had gotten into. Once they calmed down they went over to the girls and stood right in front of them.  
  
"Now do you think cooking is an easy task?" asked Averus.  
  
"No. Can we PLEASED get cleaned and take care of the small cuts we got?" asked Kristy whining.  
  
"Hai, hai. Go on you two. We'll wait in the kitchen." Replied Vincent nodding.  
  
The two girls ran out of room and upstairs. Now since there was only one bathroom, the two of them were now fighting over to get to the bathroom.  
  
"KRISTY YOU BAKA NEKO!! I GOT HERE FIRST!!!"  
  
"YEAH RIGHT TRISTA!! MOVE OUTTA THE WAY IT'S MY TURN!!"  
  
"OH NO!! LAST TIME I HAD TO WAIT NEARLY A HALF HOUR FOR YOU TO GET OUT!!"  
  
"SO SUE ME!! I RUN OUT OF SHAMPOO AND LOOSE THE SOAP AND I'M BRANDED FOR LIFE!!"  
  
"YES!! NOW LEMME THROUGH!!"  
  
"NOT SO FAST!! HA!! HA HA!!"  
  
*SLAM*  
  
*BANG* *BANG* *POUND*  
  
"KRISTY MAXELL!!"  
  
"WAIT YOUR TURN!!"  
  
"DAMN YOU!!"  
  
Vincent and Averus sighed and shook their heads as they entered the kitchen. They looked at the table and were surprised. The food had come out looking pretty well. Even though the noise that they heard, wasn't very confident when the food was in its process, the final result looked really well.  
  
"I think they may have done a pretty good job." Stated Averus.  
  
"Maybe. But let's wait and see how it tastes. Looks can be deceiving." Replied Vincent sitting down.  
  
"Yeah. You got a point there." Averus said back and sat down across from Vincent.  
  
Once the apartment turned quiet, Vincent got up and got two sodas and threw one to Averus who caught it. Vincent went back to the table and sat down, just as Trista and Kristy were coming into the kitchen.  
  
"Okay, dig in!!" said Kristy grabbing some of the things off of the plates. The others took some too. Vincent and Averus just stared at their food and poked it with their chopsticks and then looked at each other.  
  
"Er.girls, did you by any chance remember to TASTE the food once it was done?" asked Averus.  
  
Trista and Kristy looked at each other.  
  
"Nope. Completely slipped our minds." They replied and took some and put it in their mouths. Their eyes lit up and started to eat more of the food they made. Vincent and Averus just stared blankly.  
  
"C'mon you guys!! It's good!!" grinned Kristy swallowing.  
  
"You better be right about this." Stated Vincent and he took some meat and ate it. "Okay it's safe."  
  
"VINCENT!!" shouted Trista and Kristy.  
  
"Heh. What'd I do?" he asked smirking.  
  
Averus just ate quietly and letting the other three argue or to be more specific, let Kristy and Trista argue at Vincent while he just sits there and smirks.  
  
Soon it was late at night and everyone was fast asleep in their own beds. The apartment was eerily quiet and nothing seemed to be going on, until a small black orb floated down the hallway and when it was in the living room it went through the door and onto the roof, where it materialized into the dark demon bit-beast called Arashi. He sighed and walked to the edge of roof and looked up at the moon.  
  
"Another night of searching Arashi?" asked a voice behind. Arashi whirled around and sighed.  
  
"Hey there Kyoshi. Why aren't you in your blade in Averus's room?" he asked.  
  
Kyoshi was the raven bit-beast that Averus had and was currently in his human form. He had dark purple hair with gold eyes. He was wearing sleeveless black top and gray pants.  
  
"Usually, but you were muttering a lot in your blade. Are you sure he's even still alive? No offense or anything, but correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't he supposedly gone since that fire? " Replied Kyoshi nonchalantly. Arashi gave him a weak grin.  
  
"Yes. Supposedly, but I know for a fact that he's still alive. I may not have concrete proof, but I just know he's alive. I can.sense it." Replied Arashi seriously. Kyoshi raised an eyebrow.  
  
"You sense it? Just like how you sense whenever Vincent is making those moochi cakes you love?" replied Kyoshi smirking and Arashi turning red in embarrassment.  
  
"THAT'S not a sense. That was my stomach." Replied Arashi hotly and glaring at the smirking raven. "Anyway, it's a sort of bond me and him share since we were young."  
  
"And that was what? Six-hundred years ago?" asked Kyoshi.  
  
"Actually it was over two millenniums." Replied Arashi sweat-dropping at the reaction of Kyoshi who had just gone into shock at this lifetime. Arashi walked over and started shaking Kyoshi to get him to wake up. He heard another couple set of feet approaching and lifted up his head and sighed.  
  
"Okay, now what're you two doing up?" asked Arashi and he hit Kyoshi on the head and got him out of his daze.  
  
"ITAI!! TWO MILLENNIUMS!? BIT-BEASTS USUALLY ARE NOT THAT OLD AND LOOK THAT YOUNG!!" cried Kyoshi holding his head in pain.  
  
"Are you really two millenniums old!?" cried one.  
  
"Actually to be exact, it was two millenniums and four hundred years that I was born." Replied Arashi.  
  
"Man you ARE old." Grinned the other one. Arashi glared.  
  
"Oh shut up KittieFae." Growled Arashi. The young bit-beast giggled. KittieFae height was about a little shorter to Arashi's shoulder. She was in her human form also. Her hair was a snow white/turquoise color and was in a single braid and her eyes looked like a cat's eyes and was a light amber color. She had on a white tank top and dark blue flare jeans. Soon the other figure walked right next to KittieFae and shook its head.  
  
"We're just like our masters, Except that I don't argue 24/7 with KittieFae." The other said.  
  
"We argue sometimes Dominion. But not on matters like Kristy-chan and Trista-san." Replied KittieFae shrugging.  
  
Dominion stepped up into the moonlight. His short dark green hair and blue eyes stared at the others. He had a green turtle neck with a brown vest and brown pants.  
  
"So did you ever have a previous master before Vincent?" asked KittieFae, "because if you really are two thousand four hundred years old, you should've had several previous masters."  
  
"I didn't and neither did he. The reason was because we were.different than normal bit-beasts." Replied Arashi looking at the other three.  
  
"I'll say!! If you were normal, you'd probably have wrinkles." Stated Dominion.  
  
"Oh shut up Dominion." Growled Arashi. "There was a certain reason why they wouldn't let me go. They were willing to send him but not me."  
  
Dominion, Kyoshi and KittieFae looked between one another and looked at Arashi.  
  
"I'm suddenly glad that he refused to go to a master that wouldn't have me near him." Arashi added.  
  
"But why weren't you allowed to go to a master?" asked KittieFae.  
  
"You know how I'm a dark type bit-beast right?" asked Arashi, his piercing red eyes staring at the others who nodded. "Well, few dark bit-beasts are born and on that millennium when a dark bit-beast was to be born, something bizarre happened."  
  
"What was it?" asked Kyoshi.  
  
"A dark type was born with a twin." Replied Arashi.  
  
"Okay, that's a bit strange, but what made it so different?" asked Dominion.  
  
"A dark type born with a LIGHT twin. Opposites born at the same time." Arashi said back.  
  
"You mean..that.." stuttered KittieFae.  
  
"Yes. I was born with a twin brother of the light." Arashi finished.  
  
"Now I see what you mean. But that is a bit strange that you have a bond. Was there another reason why you and your brother didn't have a master before Vincent?" asked Kyoshi.  
  
"It's because in addition that we were born light and dark twins, we were also born with the fact that we were elite bit-beasts even at a young age." Replied Arashi.  
  
"E..elite bit-beasts!? You mean you two were BORN elite?" shrieked KittieFae.  
  
"Uh huh, but that was not the reason. They wished to send my brother out, but wasn't able to." Added Arashi.  
  
"You mentioned that before. Why was that?" asked Kyoshi.  
  
"Balance." Arashi replied back.  
  
"Balance? You mean like you two balance each other out?" KittieFae asked. Arashi nodded.  
  
"You guys better get going back to your masters. KittieFae, I think I hear Kristy getting a snack." Said Arashi.  
  
"Oh no not again!! She's going to break something I know it!! Good luck Arashi!!" cried KittieFae as she changed back into her beast form and sprinted into the apartment.  
  
"I better get going too. Trista usually wakes up hearing Kristy going for a snack and usually takes me along. Hope you find something Arashi." Added Dominion nodding and walking back into the apartment. Kyoshi was about to leave when Arashi stropped him.  
  
"Kyoshi, can you do me a favor?" asked Arashi. Kyoshi turned towards Arashi and waited.  
  
"Could..could you keep an eye on Vincent for me please?" he asked.  
  
"Okay I guess. Any particular reason?" replied Kyoshi looking at Arashi who fidgeted.  
  
"It's just...just tell me if Vincent does anything like symptoms." Replied Arashi nervously. Kyoshi was getting a bit worried. Usually Arashi is never nervous about anything and seeing him stutter a bit is getting him paranoid. Kyoshi walked over to Arashi and put a comforting arm on Arashi's shoulder, making Arashi look at him.  
  
"Okay I'll keep an eye on your master for you, but tell me why?" asked Kyoshi taking his hand off of Arashi's shoulder.  
  
"Thanks. The thing is..remember how I said that I need balance with my light?" asked Arashi.  
  
"Yes." Replied Kyoshi nodding.  
  
"When's the last time you saw my lighter side with me, since you met me?" Arashi stated.  
  
"Never. I've never seen him in the two years that I've known you." Replied Kyoshi getting worried.  
  
"What happens to darkness if there is no light to balance it out?" Arashi asked.  
  
"It gets out of control, usually that's how chaos comes to be." Stated Kyoshi. "Wait.so what does this have to do with Vincent?"  
  
".......If something is going on with him just tell me Kyoshi please." Replied Arashi as he expanded his wings and taking flight.  
  
Kyoshi watched as Arashi flew off and shook his head and muttered one thing before he headed back into the apartment.  
  
"What're you hiding Arashi?"  
  
*************************************  
  
"Okay now. Which one of the zodiac have I not seen?" muttered a young lavender headed boy looking through a telescope in his room.  
  
"There's Demeter the spirit of Virgo...which is right..there!! Scorpio to the right of Leo and a little off of Libra.and...huh?" The young boy moved away from the telescope as he saw something strange. His dark purple eyes were wide in confusion.  
  
"That can't be right...can it?"  
  
He quickly ran to his desk and took out his sketch book and ran back to the telescope and looked through it again. He caught a glimpse of the figure he saw before he wasn't able to see it anymore. He sighed and pulled the telescope in and shut his window. He went to his bed and started to sketch what he saw.  
  
"I wonder who or what that was?" he asked himself and then yawned and soon fell asleep with his sketch book falling to the ground.  
  
*************************************  
  
"But Kaze you know I don't lie!! I saw whatever it was!!" cried the young lavender head kid to another kid with messy black hair and blue eyes as they were walking down the halls to their first class.  
  
"Okay I know that Tori-chan, but how can that be possible?" he replied as they walked into the classroom and took their seats.  
  
"I dunno. But I know I saw what I saw. And don't call me Tori-chan!!" said Tori as he pushed Kaze's hand away from poking him in the face.  
  
"Awww, but Tori you're so darn kawaii!!" laughed Kaze. "And you seem to get the attention of almost all of the female population here in school."  
  
"It's not like I try. I really don't understand why girls just stare at me and giggle. It gets creepy after awhile. Especially the looks they give you" Muttered Tori shuddering.  
  
"Not to mention that you get that locker of yours fill with love letters AND get chased by your fan club during lunch." Grinned Kaze as Tori sighed.  
  
"Must you remind every time." He asked as he took out his homework.  
  
"Yep. It's so much fun poking at you." Grinned Kaze.  
  
"And I wonder how you became my friend sometimes." Sighed Tori.  
  
"Okay class. Please pass forward you homework and turn to page twenty-eight in your textbooks. Kiyami-san, please read from the third paragraph." Stated the teacher.  
  
"Hai. The revolution of when the Americans came to Japan to..." Read Kiyami.  
  
As Tori was reading along in his book, something hit him in the back of his head. He turned around and wasn't able to see the culprit, but he saw a note on his desk. He opened it up and sighed.  
  
'Why must I be subdued to endure this every single day?' Tori thought as he took the note, flipped it over and wrote something and tossed it to the person who had sent it. She read what Tori had written hopefully and suddenly was crestfallen.  
  
'Awww, phooey. I thought he would agree.' Thought the crestfallen girl.  
  
*********************************************  
  
"I'm bored!! I'm gonna go out!!" shouted Kristy as she got off the couch and headed towards the door.  
  
"Be quiet please!!" moaned Vincent as he was lying on the other side of the couch with a pillow over his face.  
  
"You alright, oh fearless leader?" asked Kristy.  
  
"Peachy." Grumbled Vincent, then he got off the couch and rubbed his head. "Maybe some air would do me some good. Be back in a while."  
  
"Stay away from any high schools Vincent!!" laughed Trista.  
  
"Very funny." Muttered Vincent as he left.  
  
"Anyway, I'm going. See you guys later." Said Kristy as she too walked out of the door, leaving Trista and Averus in the apartment by themselves.  
  
"Wanna play some cards?" asked Averus taking out a pack of cards. Trista shrugged.  
  
"Eh, why not?" she replied and they sat in the living room and started playing.  
  
****************************  
  
As Vincent left the apartment, he still didn't feel very good but kept on walking. What felt like hours had really on only been about half an hour at the most. By now Vincent was feeling dizzy and his vision was getting blurred as he continued to walk. When he turned a corner he suddenly bumped into someone.  
  
"Sorry." Groaned Vincent as he held a hand to his head which was throbbing.  
  
"You apologizing Vincent? What's happened to you and When'd you turn soft?" the person who Vincent had bumped into replied.  
  
"Eh?" wondered Vincent as he tried to focus. He saw a familiar cloak, dark hair and the two armbands on the person's arms.  
  
"Street? Damnit." Growled Vincent.  
  
"What's wrong? Sick?" asked Street raising an eyebrow.  
  
Vincent shook his head.  
  
"No, but I've got this stupid headache and not to mention my vision is starting to get blurry." He replied and he lost his balance and managed to hold up by leaning against a wall. Street stared.  
  
"Here, let's go to the roofs. You might feel better." Muttered Street as she helped Vincent make it to the top of the nearby roof where they sat down. Vincent just stared ahead looking past the alleys and saw the entire city and Street sat next to him.  
  
"So what's wrong with you?" Street asked again as she crossed her arms and waited for an answer.  
  
Vincent weakly grinned.  
  
"I'm happy that you have some concern of me Street." He replied. Street huffed and then grinned back.  
  
"Bah. Why shouldn't I. So what exactly is happening to you?" she asked. Vincent sighed and looked towards the horizon where a soft breeze blew and ruffling their hair.  
  
"Street..did you ever think that something of the past could ever come back?" he asked.  
  
This surprised Street. Even though she didn't show a lot of emotion, she still considered the Shadow Blader her friend and friends worry about each other. Right?  
  
"Well, if you think about it, I think it can go either way. It could come back in a good way or a bad way. Why do you ask this?" Street asked.  
  
"Because...I'm afraid something that I don't have that was in the past may hurt me now." Replied Vincent.  
  
"What could possible hurt you Vincent? As far as I've known you you're practically fine." Replied Street surprised.  
  
Vincent looked at Street and when she looked at him she was shocked. His eyes were holding so much emotion that she never saw in Vincent ever before. It was as if another person was being encased inside of Vincent and that's why he had that hard exterior and why he hardly ever showed any emotion. It was like, for a while, the encased person inside of Vincent got a first view of the outside world, showing how Vincent was inside. As she looked at the emerald depths of his eyes he saw two emotions that were showing more than the other. Sadness and loneliness.  
  
"Vincent.." Street said, as Vincent bowed his head down.  
  
"Street, please promise you won't say anything to your Alley Bladers or my Shadow Blades." Vincent asked looking back at her pleadingly. Street nodded silently as she was still trying to get over her initial shock.  
  
"When I was younger, I had an abusive father after my mother had died." Vincent started. "He'd always come looking and I'd usually end up getting beat up for the two of us, because I wanted to protect him so much."  
  
"Wait. You said 'us'. What does that mean Vincent?" Street asked.  
  
"Street before I met you or ANY other alley blades, I had...a little brother." Replied Vincent.  
  
"A little brother!? YOU!?" Street replied surprise. "But what does this have to do with your illness?"  
  
Then Vincent started to exasperate.  
  
"I DON'T KNOW!!" Vincent cried, surprising Street," Every night all I can hear is his voice crying out to me that night. That awful night where I lost my little brother!!"  
  
"You hear him?" Street asked.  
  
"Yes. But it's strange, I always hear him...calling.." moaned Vincent as he suddenly was holding his head in pain and closing his eyes and started to moan in pain, and getting Street worried.  
  
"VINCENT!! WHAT'S HAPPENING!?  
  
"I.I hear him Street!!"  
  
"Hear who!? Who do you hear Vincent!!" shouted Street.  
  
//Big brother!! Help me!!//  
  
//Vincent you promised. You promised you'd protect me!!//  
  
//VINCENT PLEASE HELP ME!!//  
  
Then Vincent started to loose conscious and suddenly before he completely blacked he heard Street's desperate voice trying to get to him and a familiar smiling figure.  
  
"Na.Nanashi..." **************************************************************************** ************************** End of Chapter 2 


	5. Fading Light: When We First Met

Thanks a lot for all the reviews!! Especially the ones from The Street Blader!! I want to thank especially Mystic_Water for helping me write this, because if it wasn't for her, this fic wouldn't be up for a LONG time. Thanks a lot and enjoy this chapter!! Don't forget to R and R please!!   
  
*********************************************************************************  
  
"Mou!! Baka southsides!! Why do they insist on chasing me!!" moaned Kristy as she darted through different alleys trying to escape the southsides that were chasing her.  
  
//Maybe if you didn't keep taunting them mistress. They would probably leave you alone// stated KitteFae.  
  
//Bah. I think they would have still chased me even if I DIDN'T provoke them. 'Sides, it's not my fault they're so easily provoked.// replied Kristy.  
  
"Come back here you baka neko!! We'll teach you to make fun of us!!" shouted one.  
  
"Try me you bunch of idiots!!" Kristy shouted back.  
  
"Grrrrr….That's it!! Launch your blade now!!"   
  
'Uh oh!! Not good!!' thought Kristy as she running faster to escape the beyblades that were heading her way. As she turned another corner, one of the beyblades managed to hit her leg, cutting it a bit. Kristy hissed but continued running until she outside the alleys. She looked behind and saw that they were still pursuing her.   
  
She kept running and running until she saw that some how some south sides managed to get in front of her.  
  
'Kuso!!' she thought as she looked behind her and in front of her as they closed in and were grinning maliciously at her.  
  
"No where to run baka neko. GET HER!!"  
  
They all launched their beyblades at the cornered neko. They grinned as they thought it had made contact, but the neko-jin managed to kick up some dirt and block their view.  
  
"DAMMIT!! WHERE IS SHE!!" they shouted wondering what was going on until they heard moans of pains and they thought they had gotten her, but suddenly they saw the others beyblades coming towards them and shouted.  
  
Suddenly they heard laughter and angrily looked up and saw Kristy had jumped to the concrete post of the steel fence. Her red hair tied in a ponytail waving in the wind. Wearing a turquoise tank top and a denim skirt (I have a reason for that skirt thing).   
  
HA!! No matter how many times you baka south sides try to get me, I can out wit you, out grace you, out MANUVER you'll never get me!!"  
  
"DAMN YOU!! YOUR LUCK WILL RUN OUT YOU BAKA!! AND WE'LL BE THERE TO GET YA!!" the south side yelled back and the rest of them grumbled back to the allies. Kristy stuck out her   
  
Tongue at the retreating backs of the south sides and then sighed.   
  
  
  
"Never underestimate me boys. Now where the heck am I?" wondered Kristy as she looked   
  
around. Kristy saw a familiar school that she had recalled. Once she remembered what it was she almost fell off the post laughing. It was the EXACT school that Vincent had gone to or FORCED to go to more  
  
Like it.  
  
"Oh gawd!! This is just too interesting!! Now I can explore this place." grinned Kristy as she loved  
  
Exploring. That's coming from her nature as she acts like a cat sometimes.  
  
She saw a bunch of Sakura trees lined up by the gate and gracefully leapt from one to another,   
  
going deeper into the school. She looked at her watch that was under her purple wristband and saw that it was about almost 10:00 a.m. It was break time. Many students were walking and talking around the schools rather absurdly large field. She stopped jumping when she got to the third to last tree and watched. There seemed to be a lot of students and as she continued watching she didn't notice something going on with the branch that she was standing on.....  
  
"Gee I still don't see why Vincent thought this school was so terrible. It seems normal to me...."  
  
  
  
Kristy said to herself out loud. *CRACK*  
  
"Huh?" Kristy said as she looked down. She sweatdropped and saw that her branch was breaking.  
  
"Oh no.....Gotta move.....gotta move.....gotta....OH SHI.....!!!!" yelled Kristy as she went falling down as the branch broke off and she started cursing.  
  
"OH GAWD!! AND I JUST HAD TO WEAR AN F*&*^% SKIRT!! DAMMIT!!" shouted Kristy as she was still plummeting down with tears coming out.  
  
Suddenly Kristy looked down and saw somebody walking underneath her. When she got a closer look, she gasped and blushed heavily as she came plummeting down.  
  
'Oh gawd, oh gawd, it just had to be a boy didn't it!!' Kristy thought wildly as she came closer to the earth.   
  
"OI!! LOOK OUTTT BEEEEELLLLLLOOOOWWWWWW!!!!" The kid looked up and he suddenly got a bloody noise for looking up when a girl is coming down wearing a SKIRT!!  
  
  
  
"WHAT THE!! WHO'RE YOU!!"  
  
"JUST WATCH OUT!! AIIEEEEE!!!!!" shouted Kristy as she suddenly shut her eyes and waited to hit bottom.  
  
When Kristy didn't feel that she was in any pain, besides the one in her leg from earlier, she looked around and she blushed. Some how the guy had dropped all of his books and managed to catch Kristy in his arms, but was still majorly blushing his bloody nose had stopped.  
  
"Are...you....all right?" he asked. Kristy just nodded and he gently put her down leaning against the trunk of the tree.  
  
"Yes. I'm sorry." replied Kristy blushing. The guy looked at her and then sat down Indian style and taking out a handkerchief. Kristy stared at him and saw that he was wrapping it around her wound that the Southside had cause.   
  
"Oh wait!! You don't need to take care of that!! I can....." started Kristy but was cut off when the guy looked up and his dark violet eyes stared at her leaving her speechless.  
  
"Don't worry. If you leave it like this, it's bound to get infected and I wouldn't want you to injure yourself more." Then he finished and leaned back.  
  
"So what's your name? You can't be from this school 'cause you don't have a uniform. I'm Tori. Tori Saito." replied Tori. Kristy blanched. She didn't know if she should tell this city kid who she is or where she's from.   
  
"Eeerrr....my name....my name is Neko Mystic. Yeah. Neko Mystic at ya service." grinned Kristy. Suddenly Tori laughed and Kristy was staring.  
  
Tori then stopped laughing and letting go of his stomach from which he was holding so while he was laughing himself to tears.   
  
"I'm sorry Neko-chan. It's just that if you think about it....its kinda funny." he replied. Kristy was still confused. "What do you mean Tori-kun?" Tori grinned and replied, "Well, you know Neko means cat right?" Kristy nodded. "Well, 'Tori' means bird. Think now."  
  
Kristy suddenly started laughing too and Tori joined her. "Oh geez!! That IS hilarious Tori-kun!! HAHAHAHA you bird and me cat......bird goood food for cat." grinned Kristy as she looked at Tori who got the idea. "Oh no!! The koneko (kitten) is after me!!" laughed Tori. Kristy couldn't help but laugh at that and they both who had gotten up, just as quickly fell down.  
  
When they had calmed down they just sat there. "So what're you doing here Neko-chan?" asked Tori.   
  
"Well, I was always a bit curious on this school, so I wanted to explore it a bit and so I was jumping from one sakura tree to another and then.....you know what happened." replied Kristy. Tori blushed.  
  
"Yeah. Hey I got an idea!!" Tori said. Kristy watched him as he helped her up and tugging her along towards the school. Kristy was blushing because Tori were holding her hand and she strangely liked it. As he tugged her along and she helped him carry his books, they were oblivious to the obvious jealous stares that they were receiving from many other girls in the school.  
  
"Hey!! Who's that red-headed girl with Saito-san!!" shouted a blonde with brown eyes glaring at the blushing Kristy and the smiling Tori. A girl with green hair and blue eyes joined her.   
  
"I have no idea Eri, but we are SO gonna find out. NO one is going to get Saito-san WITHOUT us first. Let's find the other girls and see if they have anything on her.  
  
As the two of them disappeared into the crowd, Tori had gotten Kristy into the building and dragging her through the seemingly endless halls. "I can ask if Mizuki-san can give you a pass so you can come here whenever you want during this school year. Like a exchange student kinda thing." smiled Tori.   
  
"Sure!! That'd be great!!" grinned Kristy as they made it to the main building.  
  
Kristy blushed furiously, as she and Tori walked right past the group of scowling girls.   
  
"Morning, Eri-chan, G'morning girls!" He gave them a bright smile, as he continued to drag the neko girl into the school,   
  
"C'mon, Neko-chan."  
  
"H-hai…" Kristy muttered timidly, trying her best to avoid the glares and gazes from he jealous girls.  
  
Kristy had to refrain herself from gasping, and ogling at the building, as they walked through the halls. The place was enormous. She couldn't see why Vincent despised this place, it seemed rather welcoming.   
  
'Oh no! Vincent!!' she thought desperately.   
  
She was suppose to get back tot eh Shadow Blades 30 mins ago. 'Oh well,' she thought with a shrug, 'I'll leave as soon as I'm done here, its not like Vincent's not use to me ignoring him anyway.'  
  
Tori glanced to Kristy as she sighed, "Something wrong, neko-chan?"  
  
Kristy straightened her back, "iie (no), iie, I'm fine!"  
  
"Good, c'mon, Mizuki-san is in here!" Tori grinned as he dragged her along.  
  
((Okay, now let me do a quick scene with the Shadow Blades))  
  
As Vincent was falling unconscious he was leaning forward and was almost off the building that they were sitting on.   
  
"VINCENT!!" shouted Street as she quickly grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back on the roof.   
  
As she pulled back, and brought Vincent back with her she stared at his face. As Street held him, she started to get worried as Vincent's face started to change emotions. At first it went from calm and peaceful to suddenly it went to painful one and he started to mumble and moan.   
  
"No....Nanashi.....noo......pops.....mother......NOOO!!!" shouted Vincent as he started to thrash around and Street was desperately trying to hold onto him to calm him down.   
  
"VINCENT!! CALM DOWN!"  
  
Vincent still wouldn't stop struggling and was still thrashing about in Street's arm. 'Okay, not working, looks like I'm going to have to take him back to the apartment.'   
  
"DARK FANG!!" shouted Street as she summoned her bit-beast. A large dragon appeared and took Street with Vincent on its back to the Shadow Blade's apartment.  
  
*****  
  
"Hahaha!!" laughed Trista as she took the cards away from the frustrated Averus, who sweat-dropped at the small cards he had left. They were playing Egyptian war and apparently when the doubles came up, Trista beat Averus to them and now he was done to next to nothing as Trista almost had the entire deck.  
  
"Awww man!! There goes my jacks!!" moaned Averus as he slumped his head and Trista grinning madly at her victory.  
  
Suddenly they heard a loud flapping of wings and turned their heads towards the door as it was kicked opened and they stared as they saw a worried Street with a sweating Vincent with his arm around her neck and holding onto her waist.   
  
"Vin....Vincent is .....I don't know!! Help him guys!!" shouted Street desperately as Vincent was starting to struggle again.  
  
As Trista and Averus ran over to where Street had fallen to her knees, tired from holding down a struggling Vincent, they never noticed a small black aura surrounding Vincent and disappearing into him.   
  
**Mean while back with Kristy and Tori**  
  
Kristy was pulled into a large room by Tori, his hand not leaving her wrist. A woman glanced up at the duo from behind her desk, black hair that goes down to her neck, brown eyes, wearing a white turtle neck with a blue long sleeved jacket and a long black skirt.   
  
"Oh good morning Saito-kun, I see you have a new friend."  
  
"Morning, Mizuki-san!! Hai. This is Neko-chan, Neko Mystic!" Tori smiled, as he finally let go of Kristy's wrist.  
  
"Ohayo." Kristy muttered, blushing slightly, remembering the name she gave Tori as her own.  
  
"So, what can I do you two for?" Miszuki smiled fondly.  
  
"Anou…I was wondering if you could give er a pass, like a transfer/exchange student kinda thing. So she can visit us when she wants!" Tori gave a sheepish smile and a pleading look to Mizuki. Mizuki smiled softly at Tori's expression,   
  
"No problem, Tori-kun." she turned to her computer and began to type quickly.  
  
As Mizuki typed away, Tori turned to Kristy smiling softly, "So…anou...how often will you visit?" he asked gently.  
  
Kristy was about to say something about; when ever Vincent let her go roaming on her own, but decided against it, knowing he would want to know about the alleys too.   
  
"Whenever I'm not too busy, I guess." she smiled back.  
  
Tori nodded, just as Mizuki-san, handed Kristy a school pass, expiring on that very day the next year. It had Mizuki's signature, an expire date, and her name... ok well her fake id…Neko Mystic. Kristy nearly fell over, she didn't realise how pathetic that sounded until she read it, and "Too late now." she muttered.  
  
"Hmm? Did you say something, Neko-chan?" Tori, took her by the wrist again, as he took her out of the secretary's office, before waving at the smiling Mizuki-san.  
  
"Oh…no no! Nothing!" Kristy quickly corrected herself, she was about to ask where Tori was taking her, before something caught his attention.  
  
"KAZE!!" He gave a bright grin, dropping Kristy's hand and racing over to a boy with black messy hair, and bright friendly blue eyes.  
  
"Hey Tori." The boy smiled back.  
  
"Kaze, this is Neko Mystic, Neko-Chan. this is Kaze Youko, my best friend!" Tori said happily, as Kristy came walking up beside them.  
  
"Konichiwa!" Kristy said as brightly as she could, trying to sound polite.  
  
Kaze nodded, "Nice to meet you..." he seemed a bit skeptical at Kristy's fake name, who could blame him? Who wouldn't be suspicious?   
  
"... Well Tori wasn't, but he seemed a bit too naive and cute for his own good..."  
  
Kristy's eyes widened //CUTE???// she thought, she blushed furiously, //Oh, Kami....//  
  
Kristy heard her icy cat snicker at her, but tried to ignore her baka neko.  
  
"Although..." Kaze said grinning between Tori and Neko. "It seems you finally picked a girlfriend huh Tori-chan" grinned Kaze, looking at the blushing faces of Tori and Kristy.  
  
"WHAT!?" they both shouted. "But we just met!!" they stuttered at the same time.  
  
  
  
Kaze laughed hard at the blushing duo.  
  
Kristy growled in embarasment at Tori's best friend, Kaze, he had some nerve. She was trying her best to ease her bright blush, failing just as horribly as Tori was.  
  
She flustered up her best fake smile, and turned to Tori, "Tori-kun, I have to go now. I have people to meet up with. They are probably waiting for me."  
  
"Oh…" Tori seemed a bit upset, but Kristy quickly added as an after thought:  
  
"But don't worry, I'll come by this week and visit you, both, again!" Kristy smiled faintly.  
  
Tori grinned, as Kaze rolled his eyes, but Kaze nodded none the less.   
  
Tori waved at Kristy as she made her way out of the school, "Bye, Neko-chan!!" he waved frantically calling after her.  
  
"Ja ne!" Kristy smiled back, and the moment she was out the door, she began into a full out sprint, towards the exit area to get off the school property area. But she was stopped abruptly, when the girls she had seen early, staring at her and Tori, jumped in front of her. Kristy slid to a strop, glaring at the girls for interrupting her run.   
  
"Nani?" she asked hastily.  
  
The girl with blonde hair and brown eyes scowled at the neko girl. "What are YOU doing, with Saito-kun?!?!" she screeched.  
  
The girl, who stood beside her, had green hair and blue eyes, "Yeah! Everyone know's Eri-chan has been after him for months... then YOU come along, and catch his eye in a matter of minutes!!" she snarled.  
  
Kristy blinked at the girl's immaturity levels, "You're kidding right? He was only being nice to me! Don't tell me he hasn't been nice to you!"  
  
"Oh he's nice alright... nice in letting me down easy!! He's soo adorable... kawaii... sekushi... a COMPLETE Bishounen... who do you think YOU are anyway? Stealing My bishie..." Eri's voice dripped in malice, as she glared at Kristy.  
  
Kristy sighed heavily, "Honestly, I don't have time for this!" she gasped, "Sod off girls, I'm in a hurry!" she moved to brush past Eri, but was only shoved back by her green-haired companion.  
  
"Don't walk away when Eri-chan's talking to you!" the blue eyed, green haired girl snapped   
  
"Don't piss me off girls. You don't wanna do that..." Kristy folded her arms over her chest.  
  
"Hn, you're as arrogant as some alley trash kid!" Eri meant that as an insult, Kristy didn't take the 'trash' part too impressing, but the other part was thouroughly true.  
  
"Baka... I am an alley kid. Member of the Shadow Bladers, one of the most feared gangs in the alleys! Kristy Maxell and I was chosen for my martial art skills, so back off!!" Kristy snapped back, completely ignoring the fact that she had given herself away, to some city trash, local bitches.   
  
The two girls paled at Kristy's declaration of identity.  
  
"HAH!! I knew Neko Mystic was a cracked up name!" The green haired girl pointed an accusing finger at Kristy, but she suddenly squealed in fear, as in an instant, Kristy's aqua blade was aimed right at the girl's head.  
  
"It's rude to point you know!" Kristy hissed dangerously, "Now move aside before, 'I' move you both!" her voice was dangerous but oh so promising.  
  
Eri tugged at her friend, and pulled her aside, so Kristy could stalk past them, ignoring their paled expressions.   
  
"You baka." Eri snapped in a whisper at her friend, "Do you realise who the Shadow Blader's are? I heard they kill city kids! Just like the Dark Alleys! You don't wanna mess with her, I've heard of that Maxell kid! She annoying as hell, and not only does she torture kids from other alley areas, like the south-sides, but she likes to torment city's kids too! She's a real brat, that one!" Eri glared after Kristy, then glanced back at her green haired friend, "This is perfect!" Eri exclaimed, "C'mon! Let's go tell Saito-san!!!!" and with that, the two raced off towards Tori and Kaze, eager to tell them the GREAT news...  
  
**Back to Kristy**  
  
Kristy was fuming, as she bounced from roof top to roof top, to get in to the North-side alleys, "Stupid girls... BWAH... baka's... Think they are soo tuff, because they are popular in school... Think they can bad mouth Kristy Maxell!!!! Yeah, right!!! This Neko-girl will kick their asses if they ever mock me again!! I'll-huh? AACK!!!" Kristy was too busy mumbling to herself, that she didn't realise she had bounced into someone, who was over look the alleys on a roof of an abandoned apartment. Kristy fell to her butt, before scowling up at a familiar face, "Great..." she sighed heavily.  
  
A black haired boy with red tipping the ends, sneered down at Kristy, "Nice, bumping into you too koneko (kitten)." Rayden Clyde smirked down at Kristy, before giving her his hand to help her up.  
  
She would have growled at the koneko statement, his new favourite nick name for her. At least he didn't call her sex kitten anymore. The last time he did that, he was given a black eye which was evident for a few weeks, so this was his new nick for her, which she still despised.   
  
She murmured an, "Arigatou." instead, as he pulled her to her feet.  
  
"What's got you in such a fumble, that you are too much in a hurry to watch where you are going?" Rayden folded his arms; the leader of the Red Raiders, and Keeper of the Eastside alleys.  
  
"Just a run in with a few city bitches! And I'm late! I was suppose to be back, an hour ago, Vincent is going to have my head... plus extra training hours... with HIM." she snapped, brushing herself off.   
  
Though she hated Rayden's team mates, especially the girl, Scarlet, she didn't mind the Red Raider's company here and now. Sure he was an idiot, and likes to tease her, but he was always willing to listen when she was ranting.  
  
Rayden raised an eyebrow, "You never are ON time are you, koneko?"  
  
Well that was true, Kristy knew this, but it still infuriated her, "I don't have time for you mocking me. I'll see you around, Clyde no baka!" She smirked, before she continued on, back to her apartment.  
  
***  
  
Kristy came in to the apartment, completely exhausted from running and jumping all the way to the North-side alleys.   
  
"I'm Home! Gomen Nasai Minn-san, I ran into some-" Kristy stopped in mid sentence, as she glanced around the room, to see Street pacing about he living Room, she could hear Trista in the washroom, running water for some reason, and the voices of Averus, and a loud moaning...  
  
"Street?" she blinked, catching the Street Blader's attention.  
  
Street usually wasn't happy when Kristy showed up, but this however; she seemed relived that she was home, "Maxell…"  
  
"Street...What's going on? Where is everyone? Street?? Hoi! Street??" Kristy slowly approached Street timidly. "What's wrong??"  
  
Street looked thouroughly worried, in fact, if Kristy wasn't mistaken, she could have sworn she some wetness in Street's worried eyes, and "I don't know Maxell..."she paused," its Vincent...  
  
Kristy stared at Street's face shocked.  
  
"Vin…Vincent!? What happened Street!! What's wrong with Vincent!?" cried Kristy. Street shook her head and replied,  
  
"Well, me and him were talking about some things that has been bothering him lately and so he talked a bit, and then he said….." started Street, but then she stopped as she remembered the promise that she had made to Vincent and shook her head as Kristy intently waited for an answer from her.  
  
"All he said was stuff that I couldn't really understand what he was saying. But he was moaning and he started to thrash around like he was having a terrible nightmare." Finished Street as she shook her head and frowned.   
  
Kristy was really worried. Even though sometimes she could care less for her leader, she still cared for him. She was thankful for him that he had accepted her when she was running away from her step-father. She looked at the distressed Street and headed for the kitchen.  
  
Meanwhile in Vincent's room………….  
  
"Vincent!!" shouted Averus trying to get him to stop struggling with Trista's help. "Calm down!! Listen to us!!"   
  
  
  
Even though Vincent was still struggling and sweating, he managed to calm down and was lying still in his bed. Averus and Trista let out a sigh of relief as Averus took out a thermometer. He put it into Vincent's mouth and Trista continued dabbing Vincent's forehead with a wet wash clothe. After a minute or two, Averus took out the thermometer and looked at it. His eyes widened.  
  
"Dear kami!! He's been training us and running around with this temperature!! It's no WONDER he fainted and had a dizzy spell." Gasped Averus staring at the thermometer.   
  
  
  
"What is it exactly?" she asked. Averus looked at Trista's worried eyes and silently handed her the thermometer.  
  
"WHAT!? 101 degrees!! He should be in a hospital!!" shouted Trista almost dropping the bin with water in it. Averus nodded and stood up.  
  
"He should, but unfortunately we can't. The adults need actually proof of things like health insurance and all that stuff. Do me a favour and bring in extra blankets." Sighed Averus, moving a strand of copper hair out of his eyes.   
  
"Sure. I'll refill the bin with water to help bring down his fever." Replied Trista as she stood up and quietly walked out of the room, leaving Averus who rubbed his forehead and sat down on the desk chair and watched Vincent for any sudden movements.  
  
'What's wrong Vincent?' thought Averus.  
  
****************************  
  
When Trista opened the door and went to the bathroom again, she got a quick glance at the living room and instead walked towards there. She saw Kristy, who was finally home, handing Street a much of hot cocoa, as she was sitting down on the couch.  
  
"Glad to see that you came back. So I guess you've heard what happened to Vincent huh." Sighed Trista.  
  
"Yeah. He was really running around with him like this?" Kristy wondered out loud as Street tensed.  
  
'I promised him. I wouldn't tell.' She thought as she drank from the mug. "Thanks Maxell."  
  
Kristy replied" Yeah. Hey Street, shouldn't you get back to your Alley Blades?"  
  
Street shook her head as she placed the mug on the coffee table in front of her and stared at the roaring fire in front of her. She closed her eyes and thought a bit about Vincent and a few moments.  
  
******Flashback (These are just vivid memories)******  
  
"Idiot girl! I knew I shouldn't have left her to go off on her own. Stupid baka has probably gotten herself killed by this time. Hn! No surprise to me," Vincent muttered to himself.  
  
"Oh I'm hurt, really I am, Shadow Blader," snickered Street jumping down at the gaping Vincent.  
  
"You had no right to pry, Shadow Blader," Street whispered painfully… painfully? Vincent reached out to lay a hand on her shoulder but Street turned whacked his hand away. "Don't touch me!"  
  
To her surprise, Vincent did not slide into his own fighting position. Instead, his hand rose. Street flinched, thinking he was going to hit her, waiting for him to strike before she attacked, as was her nature. Instead, gentle fingers softly wiped away certain dampness on her face. Street's eyes widened and her fists relaxed.  
  
"Gomen nasai…(I'm sorry)" Vincent whispered, brushing her long black hair out of her now softened eyes.  
  
"What are you thinking about?" Street asked softly, amused. Vincent came out of his thoughts and drew Street closer as he smiled.   
  
"You…" Was all he answered before closed his eyes and claimed Street's soft lips for the second time that morning. This kiss was calm…like water instead of the fire of the first one. It was passionate but soothing as both put a little of their softer sides into the kiss before their tongues danced in a smooth but sensual dance, dominance flowing both ways.  
  
*****End of Flashback*****  
  
Street shook her head as she blushed a tiny bit at the last part.   
  
  
  
"Even though I should, they can handle me not being there for a while. Besides. They usually do what they want and I force them to train. I want to make sure Vincent is alright. He's a good friend to me." Sighed Street as she took her mug again and stared at it. When she looked up Kristy had disappeared and returned with a spare blanket and two pillows.  
  
"If you're going to stay here. I might be a while Street." Replied Kristy. Street actually smiled back at Kristy for a brief second, then returned back to her usual facial expression.  
  
"Thank you Maxell." Replied Street, as Kristy disappeared into her own room to do some thinking of her own.  
  
*****************************  
  
"Saito-san!! Saito-san!!" shouted Eri at the end of the day. Tori was with Kaze as they discussed their plans for tomorrow.  
  
"Yes? What is it Eri-chan?" asked Tori. The girls for some reason looked satisfied with something and Kaze didn't like it.  
  
"It's about the girl. Neko Mystic." Replied the Mako, Eri's friend.  
  
"What about her?" Tori asked frowning.   
  
"Well have you heard of the Shadow Blades?" asked Mako. Tori nodded and Kaze didn't like where this was going.  
  
"Well it seems that Neko Mystic is…is…." Started Eri.  
  
"Is what?" asked Tori.  
  
"An alley kid!!" she replied waiting for his reply. Kaze stared at the two girls and Tori just frowned.  
  
"So?" he replied.  
  
Eri and Mako were flabbergasted. How could Tori reply so…so…CALMLY!! She was an ALLEY kid, one the most number one kids NEVER to associate with.  
  
"Bu…….but Saito-san!! She's an ALLEY kid!?" cried Mako. "Doesn't that mean anything!?"  
  
Tori shook his head. "Not really. So what if she is? She probably had a good reason for not telling me, even if her name WAS phony. I wouldn't care. She had a good reason for not telling me and I respect that."   
  
So a please Kaze left with a disappointed Tori.  
  
"I think this was why she didn't tell me. Because she would think that I would react like that." Replied Tori.  
  
Kaze put a comforting hand on Tori's shoulder. "Hey. That's good. C'mon I wanna get to the arcade. They're having specials!!" grinned Kaze sprinting ahead.  
  
Tori laughed as he tried to catch up with his best-friends.  
  
'Although, I can't help think why suddenly I feel I need to go to the alleys.' Thought Tori as he followed Kaze.  
  
*********************  
  
//Where am I// thought Vincent as he was floating in a black void.  
  
He tried to move and when he did he noticed that he was shrinking. He looked around frantically for the cause of it, but no answers came to him. So when he stopped shrinking he looked at himself and saw that he was back being a six year old.   
  
//What is going on here?// Vincent thought.   
  
'…..cent….Vincent…..big brother!!' shouted a cute voice.   
  
Vincent quickly turned his head and in front of him stood a five year old Nanashi, grinning cutely at him. He tried to say something but nothing would come out.  
  
'C'mon big brother…it's nice over here!!' laughed Nanashi as he led Vincent deeper into the darkness. Vincent was too confused but followed, but he didn't know that this was just a plot to make Vincent full of darkness. As Vincent followed his 'brother' deeper, he didn't see the darkness expanding or that two glowing evil gold eyes were staring at him.  
  
**********************************************************************************  
  
End of Chapter five.  
  
Oh and sorry Lunar Heart!! I took a couple of scenes from you Street blader fic and put it into this fic. Hope you don't mind!! 


	6. Fading Light: Fight, Forgive and Forget

Thanks for the reviews as usually. Nothing much to say here, but as usual, neither I nor Mystic_Water own anything here except the plot and our own characters, and we hope you enjoy this chapter and remember to Read and Review please!!  
  
******************************************************************************************************  
  
"Oi!! Any of you guys know where Street is?" Alex shouted in the apartment that he shared with the other Alleyblades. Kiki who was eating at the table shook her head as she continued to read. Raleigh and Kiara were playing crazy eights and also shook thier heads. "Last time I saw her, she went out again. I think she might've gone to the Shadow Blade's apartment." added Raleigh.  
  
"WHAT!?" shouted Alex shocked. Even though he knew that Street and Vincent were friends, he still couldn't help but feel a bit angered that Street always seemed to leave them to go to the Shadow Blades's apartment. Kiki raised an eyebrow at the fuming silver headed boy. "If I didn't know better Alex, I would think you were JEALOUS." she said.  
  
Alex turned swiftly towards Kiki, with a hint of red on his pale cheeks and replied growling, "I am NOT jealous!!" and stomped towards the door and slammed it. Kiki, Kiara and Raleigh looked at each other and sighed. Then they said in unison, "He is SO jealous.". Then went back to what they were doing.  
  
Meanwhile  
  
**Back to Kristy**  
  
Krsty sighed heavily, as she settled her head down on her pillow, with no intention of sleeping on her mind. Too much was happening for her to be sleeping. She was worried about Vincent,   
  
and it made her worry more witht eh way Street was acting, something must have beens aid between   
  
them before he fell ill...something had disturbed Street...  
  
something he had said..but what?  
  
  
  
Hell, Stree was even being reasonably...no way more than reasonably nice and tolerante to her..after all, Kristy was always usually mocking the ice queen, not respecting her. Kristy turned over,so seh   
  
was facing her balcony.   
  
"Hmm. I suppose I could use some fresh air."  
  
  
  
Kristy stood, and opened the doors tot he balcony letting the fresh air wrap itself around her.  
  
Kristy leaned on the railing, as she looked down up on the alley's..the Northside alleys. Part  
  
of her wished, Vincet would storm into her room, and yell at her like he usually did when she did something mischevious (like that time she replaced his shampoo bottle with a bubble bath bottle- she giggled at this, his hair was all weird for a week) and after he yelled at her he would triple   
  
her training hours and drag her out side to "teach her a lesson.". She never did learn, for she did those   
  
kind of things on a weekly basis. But now. Kristy sighed heavily. But now he was weak, sick...and even   
  
Street was worried for him.   
  
Kristy was a good observer, and often found things out that she wasn't suppose to know, which she used to ehr beniffet of   
  
blackmail. But Street, she could not read, not like the others. Anyone else she could have sought out anything she wanted... ...not Street though, she remained firm, and unbreakable.   
  
Perhaps thats why she annoyed Kristy to no good end, and why she enjoyed annoying the Street Blader the most out of anyone. It frusterated her that she couldn't figure it out- that she couldnt help Vincent...that she was actually left in the dark this time, about the situation at hand.  
  
  
  
A sudden yelp shook Kristy from her thoughts, she glanced down and gasped loudly. A younger boy was  
  
staring up at Rayden, and he looked frightened. Rayden? Why was the Red Raider int heir territory? Kristy frowned and leaned over the edged to get a better look.  
  
  
  
"Tori-kun??" She gasped out loud, as she watched Rayden advance on him.   
  
"No.." she exhaled, as she suddenly found herself jumping over the railing.  
  
  
  
Both Rayden and Tori looked up, to see the agile neko girl, jump from her balcony, and land on her hands and knees beside them, but she fell to her butt, clutching her ankle. "itaii.." Kristy gasped in pain, "Kuso..I landed wrong."  
  
  
  
Rayden frowned a the girl, "What are you doing you, baka koneko??" He rushed to herside before Tori had the chance to, slowly helping to her feet.  
  
  
  
"Rayden.." She groaned, "Leave the kid alone." She muttered.  
  
  
  
Rayden frowned, as he glared at Tori, who was staring at the two alley kids in awe, and fear. "He's a city kid you baka!!" Rayden growled.  
  
"BAKA. I know he is. But he's my friend!" Kristy hissed dangerously, giving him her usual death neko glare, "And don't you even think about hurting him!" she growled in an after thought.  
  
"But-"  
  
Kristy suddenly pushed the Red Raider from her, shifting her weight onto her good ankle, as she glared at him, "No! No 'buts', Clyde! I'm serious, if you want to fight him, you are going to have to fight me instead!"  
  
Rayden raised an eyebrow, "With your ankle in THAT condition?" he snorted, "You can hardly stand, let alone fight me."  
  
"If you remember correctly, baka, I fought you when I first received this," Kristy growled, as she referred to her large scar on her shoulder, "And i was still able to manage to kick your sorry ass, before i passed out from lack of blood! I'm not as weak as you may think Rayden, a little injury can never stop me, and even you should know THAT." she hissed dangerously.  
  
Rayden smirked at this, "You truly are stubborn, aren't you, koneko?"  
  
Rayden then adverted his gaze to Tori, and glared at him ominously, causing Tori to step back in fear, "You're lucky, Maxell was here. Next time, you wont be as lucky if i catch you in the allys again!" He smirked at Kristy, "Later koneko." and with that he stalked off towards his parts of the allys  
  
Kristy sighed heavily, before she walked up to Tori, "YOU BAKA! you could have been killed!!"  
  
"Why are you here??" She snapped angrily, seh was worried about him, really..but..was he really that thick to venture intot he allys knowing that city kids were killed for it! oh, what if arcos or his black thunders found him insetead..Tori would be dead!!   
  
"Do you realise how dangerous it is here?"  
  
"Hai.." Tori muttered in an apologetic tone, "When Eri-chan told me about you, I had to come find you. I want to learn about your territory, since you've already seen mine." he said softly  
  
"I knew the Eri and her bitch of a friend would tell you who i was." Kristy muttered in malice.  
  
"Mako?.." Tori correctly softly.  
  
"What were you thinking Tori? Thank god you didnt come searching for me after dark! The Night Gangs would have killed you for sure...I mean even now, the alley kids could have easily ripped you up with their beyblades!!" Kristy vented, she didnt mean to sound angry, but she was frusterated, her worry was just comming out in spurs of anger and frusteration.  
  
"Gomen Nasai.." Tori said, "But you lied to me, Kristy-san! And I just wanted to see if Eri was telling the truth, besides," he said a little more sternly, "I can protect myself."  
  
Kristy frowned at this, "Not in the alleys you can't! You're lucky it was Rayden who found you and not Arcos, or any other ally kid int he northside's! I'm sorry to break it to you kid, but you might be able to beyblade too, but it emans nothing when you're a city kid in the alleys! they dont just beyblade, they fight too!" Kristy huffed, "You could have been killed..Rayden would have been more merciful, and would have beaten you badly, but then he would leave you int he street, to most likely die, or seek help on your own. Anyone else, you would have your own grave here in the alleys!"  
  
Tori frowned, "I can fight too you know!" he sounded a bit upset, but he knew she knew these alleys way better than he did, and he knew it was dangerous to come here…and that Rayden kid sure did give him a scare, he sighed heavily as Kristy gave him a stern look,   
  
"Gomen.." he whispered.  
  
Kristy sighed heavily, rolling her eyes, placing a hand on her hip, "Well, I mise as well escorte you out of here, and get you back to Kaze."  
  
As Tori helped Kristy walk out of the alleys, he couldn't help but feel a bit responsible for making her worry about him and making her ankle hurt. He bowed his head down sadly.   
  
'I must be such a nuisance to her. She's right. I was lucky this time, but what happens next time.' he thought.   
  
Kristy stared at the saddened Tori and shook her head.   
  
'What now? He knows my real name and who I am.'  
  
'So what' going to happen now. Damn it. I hate it when I get all confused. It's already bad enough when I don't even know what happened to my leader and now this!' Kristy thought.   
  
As they neared the exit, Kristy shook Tori out of his little world.  
  
"Oi. Tori-kun. We're here at the exit of the alleys. now don't come back here and try to look for me!! Especially at night." Kristy said.  
  
"Hai." Tori replied still depressed.   
  
Kristy was about to leave when she suddenly fell down. "Itai...damn. I forgot my ankle." she grumbled. Tori didn't say anything as he bangs was still covering his eyes. He bent down and opened his palm and Kristy felt a warm aura healing her injured ankle. When she looked up she saw that it was Tori!?  
  
"Tori what....when..." she stuttered.  
  
As she got up. Tori didn't say anything except for "Gomen. I promise. I'll never come and see you again in the forbidden Alleys. Neko....I mean Kristy." he replied.   
  
Kristy felt her chest tightened in guilt that she had lied to him, and when he looked up Kristy gasped as she saw a small tear fall down his face, but he turned quickly turned away and ran before Kristy could say anything.   
  
As Tori's retreating figure disappeared, Kristy didn't know why, but her heart tightened everytime she thought of poor Tori's face and how she had coldly and angrily yelled back at poor Tori. She quietly walked back to the apartment thinking.   
  
'Is it my fault for lying and getting angry at those city bitches and telling them who I really am? Am I still friends with Tori-kun? I'm so confused.'   
  
A gentle feeling comforted her from her beyblade and she smiled sadly as she looked at her pocket.   
  
"Thanks KitteFae for trying, but I still feel awful. First I come back and Vincent's sick and weak and now my only city friend may hate me, even though its the same day we met." she replied.   
  
She suddenly saw a drop of water fall on her beyblade and she looked up. "Huh? But its not raining?"  
  
"So why is there water coming down?" Kristy asked herself as she continued to try and figure out where the water came from. As her hand touched her face, she suddenly gasped as she felt where the water was coming from. "I.....I'm crying? But....why?"  
  
Meanwhile Tori had ran all the way home. As he neared the front gate of the dojo, he was still quiet and still thinking of what happened.   
  
'Now she probably thinks I'm a freak, because of my power.' Tori thought darkly. As he climbed over the gate and onto the yard.   
  
He walked quietly to a Sakura tree planted there and started to climb it until he was close to the window there. He leapt across and landed on his balcony and quietly opened the window and crawled in. Once he was in he closed it and locked it.   
  
He turned around and took off his jacket and changed into his pjs. He went to his desk and opened the light and took out a sketchbook. Whenever he felt depressed or sad, he always took out his sketch book and just starts doodling. He opened it up and smiled gently at a couple of past drawings.  
  
'Here's the one where I first met Kaze. Its funny. When we first me he kept helping me get to know the school and when he was being chased by a hord a girls, I saved him. Now ironically he saves ME from them.' He truned the page and looked at each sketch, each bringing back a certain memory.   
  
When he got to his last sketch he was working on, he sadly stared at it. He just then took a pencil and added a few more lines and shadowing here and there and when he looked at his clock that read 11:47 pm, he sighed and turned off his light and put away his pencil. He slowly dragged himself to bed and as soon as his head hit the pillow he fell into a dreamless sleep. He had left his sketch book open and if you look closely, you could see a familiar figure.   
  
It was Kristy Maxell smiling and it was titled "My friend Neko-Chan"  
  
Kaze was in a pretty good mood the next morning. He had actually finished his homework and didn't need to copy off of Tori like usual. He walked to Tori's house and knocked on the front door. He was greeted by a young man with dark brown hair and red eyes.   
  
"Ohayo Youko-san. Here to pick up Tori?" he asked letting him in. Kaze nodded.   
  
"Yep!! Where is the little kotori?" he replied grinning.  
  
But he lost his grin when he saw the face of the man. "Ummm....Tokiya-san, what's wrong?" he asked. Tokiya sighed.   
  
"That's the problem I don't know. Tori's acting a bit weird." Kaze stared. "Weird? What do you mean?" he asked. "He says everything is fine and he's well, but it just seems....so fake." replied Tokiya returning to the breakfast table and drinking his coffee silently.   
  
Kaze was still confused, but got his answers when Tori came down. As Kaze looked at him he saw that he wasn't his usual genki self. In stead of being in high spirits like he usually was, he was withdrawn and sullen. Tori looked up and plastered on a fake smile.   
  
"Ohayo Kaze. I'll just grab my breakfast and we can go." he said walking to the table and sitting down and started eating. "O....kay....".  
  
He replied as he watched Tori. Tokiya was right. There was something wrong with Tori. Even though he had a grin on his face, his eyes gave away his wavering emotions, but it was too cloudy to actually read them. As Tori finished and cleaned up he gave Tokiya a look that said I-get-it-now. Tori returned to Kaze's side with the fake smile plastered on and said, "Alright Kaze!! Let's go."   
  
"Right Tori-chan...." he said and waited for a reaction, but he didn't get one as they were walking towards the school. "Hmmm? Did you say something Kaze?" he asked.   
  
Kaze shook his head. "No...is everything alright with you Tori? You're acting a bit out of character." he replied. Tori looked at Kaze and replied,   
  
"Everything is fine. C'mon we better hurry if we wanna make it to class in time." laughed Tori as he ran ahead of Kaze.   
  
It surprised him, but he started running after Tori while thinking. 'Tori. Does this have anything to do with the forbidden alleys? Did something happened to you that you must plaster on a fake grin or force yourself to laugh? What is going on with you?' he thought as he ran through the gate of the school after Tori.  
  
**Apartment**  
  
Kristy had been in her room, since she had gotten home, it was now early morning, and she could hear the faint voices of Street and her teammates.  
  
Vincent's fever had eased up, and he was no longer in danger, but he was still resting, he needed it.  
  
"Maybe I was a bit hard on him…but he would have been killed..." She huffed more less to herself, as she sat up. She had slowly made her way to the door, and swung it open, with a loud 'THUMP'.  
  
//Oh shit..// she thought worriedly, as she heard someone stumble back, graoning from the impact of the door, //Please dont let it be Vincent..please not Vincent!!// Kristy peered her head arpund the door, and paled, //Shit.//  
  
Well it wasn't Vincent....  
  
Street glared up at the neko girl, holding her throbbing forehead, "YOU IDIOT!!" she screeched, causing Kristy to stumble back in her room.  
  
Street stormed into Kristy's room, as she backed away, "Did you HAVE to slam it open so HARD?!?!" she hissed dangerously.  
  
"H-Hey!!" Kristy finally found her voice, once most of the intial shock wore away, Street pushed Kristy onto her bed glaring intesntly at her,   
  
"It wasn't MY falt you happened to be walking by MY room!!!" she yelled back with equal volume.  
  
Street was furious, Kristy would have been laughin at the bruise formin on her forehead, but Street had swung a punch at the neko. "EEK!!" Kristy rolled backwards off her bed, causing Street's attempt to punch her to fail, and she landed face first on Kristy's bed fromt he force of ehr own swing.  
  
"Baka!" Kristy taunted, "You have no balance!- huh? ACK!!" Kristy was suddenly hit with full force of a pillow, at her head, and she fell to her back.  
  
"Look who's talking you dirty neko!" Street hissed back, before storming out of Kristy's room in a huff.  
  
Kristy growled in annoyance, and only winced slightly when she heard the front door slam shut.   
  
"Baka.." she muttered.  
  
"Maxell, what did you do THIS time?" Trista peeked her head into Kristy room.  
  
"Nothing!" Kristy snapped back stubbornly.  
  
Trista sighed heavily, letting it slide, "Vincent is doing better, but he wont wake up..." Trista frowned, "hoi (hey), Maxell? Are you felling ok?"  
  
Kristy shook her head, trying to sound convincing, "I'm fine, Trista."  
  
"Maybe you should go for a walk, no use staying in your room all day, me and Aerus can ahndle Vincent, why don't you go bug, Chidori or Rayden..go for a walk, clear your ehad." she said softly.  
  
Kristy smiled back, Trista always knew when Kristy needed to clear her head, they were like sisters, maybe thats why the always fought.   
  
'Hai.. tell AverusIll be home before dinner."  
  
As Kristy walked out of the apartment silently, she just stared at her feet as she as they just started taking somewhere as she was just staring at the ground. She was deeply thinking of what happened last night. 'Maybe I should go apologize to Tori-kun. It was partly might fault. Maybe if I did tell him who I was, maybe he wouldn't have gone looking for me.......but....' thought Kristy.   
  
//What if you did tell him and he STILL went after you and he had met Street,Arcos or even Vincent?// questioned KitteFae.   
  
Kristy shuddered to think what those three would do. 'I don't even want to think about. As she coninued walking she was thinking on what she should do about Tori when she suddenly bumped into a rather warm wall. 'Huh, rather warm wall?'   
  
She thought as she looked up and then sighed. She had crashed into Rayden who was smirking cheekily at him.  
  
"Hello Rayden." growled Kristy as Rayden helped her up.   
  
As she dusted off the dirt on her Rayden narrowed his eyes at her and Kristy caught the stare.   
  
"What?" she asked and glared back. Rayden pointed to her ankle and at first Kristy was wondering why he was doing that.  
  
Suddenly she remembered why, 'Crap!!' she thought, 'I twisted it last night when I landed wrong, and now its suddenly healed!! What now!?'   
  
"Care to explain koneko?" he asked folding his arms.   
  
Kristy just stuck out her tongue and ran past Rayden, "Nyaaa.!! Not telling Rayden!!" she shouted, "As if you deserve to know!!" and left a speechless Rayden sweat-droppuing. "BAKA KONEKO!!" he shouted.  
  
As she left Rayden confused, she slowed down and sighed. //what should I do KitteFae? Should I apologize to him?// she asked. //I belive that would be good. Maybe a gift too?// she added with an after thought.   
  
"Sounds good. I do have some money I could use. Alright let's go KitteFae." and she ran outta the alleys and into the city.  
  
Meanwhile, back at the school with Kaze and Tori.................  
  
  
  
Kaze was really worried about Tori. He seemed like he was in a daze. He wouldn't yell at him when he used the usual nicknames he said to him to tease, he was silent all day and ignoring the girls, of course, the last one was the same but everything else was just weird.  
  
When it was lunch time, Kaze had found a spot where the girls wouldn't find them and the two of them could just talk and believe me, when he meant talk, he meant finding out what was wrong wtih Tori's attitude today. They were sitting underneath one of the Sakura trees in the back of the school where no body really goes to and they each took out their lunches and started eating quietly.  
  
Suddenly when Kaze couldn't take the silence anymore he was about to say something but Tori beat him to it. "Kaze would you hate me if I did something very very stupid?" he asked quietly.  
  
Kaze shut his mouth and stared at Tori. "Not really if you had a good explanation." he replied as he munched on a riceball.   
  
"I went to the forbidden Alleys to look for Neko."   
  
Kaze's eyes widened and he started to choke on his riceball and spat out some. When he was done he stared at Tori who was still staring at his food. "ARE YOU CRAZY!! WHAT THE HELL GAVE YOU THAT'S ITS A GOOD IDEA TO GO RUNNING AROUND IN THE FORBIDDEN ALLEYS!! THEY'RE CALLED FORBIDDEN FOR A REASON!!" he shouted and started ranting.   
  
"I can understand why you'd want to go and all, them being forbidden and all and SURE even I was tempted to explore them, but I knew better and so....." he ranted off.   
  
"I wanted to see if Eri-chan and Mako-chan said was true." Tori added.   
  
Kaze stopped his ranting and stared at Tori as his shoulders shook.  
  
"I thought what they were saying were just lies they had made up, but they were true. She even said it herself and then once she got over her intial shock she scolded me and told me never to come looking for her and we had slight arguement. Not only that but I.....I...." Tori said shaking. Kaze felt sorry for him and sat down next to him as he continued " I showed her my ability to heal."  
  
"Now she probably hates me and thinks I'm a freak and never wants to see me again." cried Tori finally looking up at Kaze. Kaze was shocked to see tears falling rapidly down his face and then Tori launched himself towards Kaze when he clinged to him and cried. Kaze hugged him tightly and sighed.   
  
"And its strange that I never ONCE felt this for another girl..." Tori added as he continued to weep.  
  
"Was I so wrong, to check if she had actually lied to me Kaze?" Tori asked as he had calmed down a few mintues later.  
  
"I was....just really curious about Neko...." he added as he sighed and quietly ate his lunch. "Am I too trusting Kaze? Do I trust people a bit too easily?"   
  
Kaze shook his head. "Its just your nature to do something like that. So don't worry. Now eat your lunch. The bell is going to ring soon." he added grinning, making Tori grin too. "Thanks Kaze." "No problem." he replied.  
  
Meanwhile, Kristy was doing some window shopping trying to figure out what to get Tori as a gift.  
  
"I really have no idea what he likes, so looks like I'm going to have to think a bit." She muttered.  
  
//Don't think too hard mistress, you might hurt youself.// smirked KitteFae. //Okay. I.....OI!! THAT IS NOT FUNNY YOU BAKA CAT!!// Kristy mentally shouted back at her laughing bit-beast. Kristy huffed continued walking until something caught her eye in a nearby store. She grinned and said to herself "Perfect!! He'll be sure to love it!!" and ran in and purchased it.   
  
"OI!! Tori pass it here!!" shouted Kaze as he waved his arms and running along side Tori. It was after school and Tori and Kaze were both on the school's soccer team. Even though it wasn't a game it was getting late and there were girls watching them.   
  
"OKAY KAZE!!" shouted Tori as he kicked the ball towards him and sprinted to the end field where Kaze scored.   
  
Tori grinned as he was feeling better after the convesation he had with Kaze at lunch. "GOOD JOB KAZE!!!" he said as waved and Kaze ran over to him and gave each other a high five. Then their coach called them in. "Great practice everyone. I think this is our best practice yet. Okay now everyone change, shower and get home. Same time tomorrow we have practice" he said.   
  
"HAI!!" the team replied.  
  
Soon after the team had dodged the rapid girl fans, the team managed to get back to the locker room in one piece and get a good shower and change in. Once done the team headed for the gate and then went their separate ways.   
  
"You wanna come over for dinner Kaze?" asked Tori.   
  
Kaze shook his head, "Nah can't. my mom's having friends over and making me and my dad stay." he replied laughing.   
  
Tori nodded and waved good-bye as they went their separate ways. As he walked away he sighed and shifted his soccer bag on his shoulder. 'I'm glad Kaze helped bring me back to normal. It was getting almost too painful to continue plastering on those fake smiles, grins and forcing myself to laughl. Oh well....but what am I going to do about Neko?' he thought as he continued to walk home.   
  
When he looked up he was near a custom made clothing store and suddenly an idea dawned onto him. He ran inside and quickly made an order. Even though it was late, the person behind the counter was a good friend of Mizuki's so she was happy to help him.   
  
An hour later Tori left happily with the item in his backpack.   
  
"I hope Neko....er...Kristy likes it." he said to himself. As he continued walking he was passing some alleys that and he suddenly heard some yelling.   
  
"GET AWAY FROM ME YOU DISGUSTING MEN!!" sounded a female voice. Then he hear two gruff voices.   
  
"No way little girl, we haven't had any fun for a long time and you're just the sort of entertainment we need. right?"   
  
Tori was disgusted by the way the two gruff voices were acting and continued following the voices ahead of him from the sidewalks. "YOU TWO ARE DERANGED AND DISTURBING!! GET AWAY FROM ME!! GO KITTE FAE!!" But before a sound of launching could be heard, a loud "SMACK" echoed and soon a tiny moan added, making Tori rush ahead and slid to a gasping halt. 'No....it can't be....' thought Tori.  
  
"KRISTY-CHAN!!" shouted Tori catching the attention of the two men. Both of the men were ragged looking and drunk too. They looked like they haven't shaved in days. Tori was staring at the site of the limp Kristy. She was a crumpled heap on the ground and leaning against the wall. Her head was lying limply on her shoulders as there was a small trail of blood trailing down her forehead.   
  
He looked down and saw that a turquoise beyblade was lying by her feet. The two men stared at Tori for a moment and then said. "Hey, let's get rid of the brat so we can continue." said one. The other nodded and took out a gun aimed it at the Tori. As he was about to fire, something snapped inside of Tori and he started to glow blue. "Eh, what's wrong with the kid?" the one with the gun said.   
  
The other shrugged and replied," Who cares, just get rid of him already." . "Sure." and he fired, but Tori had dodge and when he reopened his eyes they were a light blue and he had dashed forward and knocked the guy out. The other man stared in disbelif at the sight. Tori had raised his hand a muttered something, "As the burning sun with the strongest fire, lend me strenght.....FLARE TURRENT!!!"  
  
A rush of fire came to his hand and he launched it towards the man who screamed and was burned and unconcisous and still alive. ((Since Tori isn't fully Azul, he can't get the full power out of his spells)). He sighed and went over to the weak Kristy who had started moaning. "Kristy-chan are you alright?" The last thing Kristy had remembered was she was getting Tori's gift and then it was dark and she was trying to get back to the Shadow Blades before the night gangs came out.   
  
But before she could even make it to her alleys, she got pulled in from behind and had met those two 'men'. When Kristy opened her eyes her thoughts were a bit fuzzy and when she looked towards where the voice was coming from she blink. 'Huh? Who are those people behind Tori?' she thought. She was right.   
  
Behind Tori were two ghostly figures. One was a tall blue-headed, blue eyed angel with white silk shirt and pants with silver and green armor on with white wings pulled in and a sword strapped to his back. The other figure was a young boy about Tori's age with red hair darker than hers and teal eyes staring sadly at her. She blinked again and the disappeared. She turned towards Tori and muttered, before she passed out,   
  
"I'm sorry Tori-kun, I was just worried about you. I got you something for the apology." she said and passed out.   
  
Tori looked to the discarded bag he had missed and opened it. He gasp. Inside was a little replica of a red phoneix. He also saw a card with Kristy's apologie. He smiled gently at her and picked her up bridal style and carried her home, with their stuff.   
  
'Well, might as well go through my balcony. No telling what Mizuki-san and Tokiya-san would say if they saw me carrying in an unconcious girl' he thought and inwardly at the reactions of his household. Since Tokiya ran the dojo, he'd probably have a fit and run around with a bokkan in his hand. ((Bamboo sword)) and Mizuki would faint. He's suddenly glad he could defend himself with a bokkan.  
  
He silently made it to his room in the dojo and managed not to disturb Tokiya and Mizuki as he closed the balcony door quietly. He set his stuff and Kristy's on the floor and then laid her on his bed.   
  
"Tori-chan!! is that you? Come down and eat your dinner!!" shouted Mizuki.  
  
"OKAY!! BE THERE IN A MINUTE!!" he shouted back. He covered Kristy up and then he left the room.   
  
  
  
As soon as dinner was finished, he ran back upstairs and saw that Kristy was still asleep. He took his pjs and went and changed in his bathroom. Once out he took out his homework and worked on it.   
  
"There done." he said an hour later. He looked at his clock and it read 10:57 pm and yawned. "Might as well get some sleep." he muttered.  
  
He turned off his light and pulled out the extra blanket and pillow he used to give to Kaze whenever he decided to sleepover. Just as he was about to lay them on the floor, he heard Kristy muttering in her sleep.   
  
"no....get away please...don't come near me...." she muttered and started getting a bit hysterical and started to worry Tori.   
  
So he abandoned his pillow and blanket, putting them back. he hesitated at first but he crawled in the bed with Kristy and wrapped his arms around her calming her down. He sighed as he fell asleep and started having weird dreams about a certain blond boy and his illness.  
  
**************************  
  
"Averus I'm starting to get worried. Even Kristy isn't this late." Trista said as she looked at the mantle piece. She was right. It was almost past 11, and the neko girl hasn't shown up.  
  
"You're right. Here. you wait for Kristy while I take a quick look at Vincent alright?" Averus said and Trista nodded. He got up and walked up the stairs and into the hallway where the rooms are. He quietly made his way to Vincent's room and opened the door. For some reason the room gave him shivers down his spine, but he still made his way towards Vincent. When he finally got a good look at him  
  
He frowned. Vincent was shivering slightly and was muttering things. "nooo....please don't go....stay with me please I don't want to be alone again don't leave me!!". Averus put his hand on Vincent's forehead and quickly removed it. His head was burning again!! " I thought we cooled him down enough for his temperature to be normal!?" Averus said outloud. So when Averus touched Vincent's arm he was  
  
Shocked!! Vincent's body was almost ice cold. This was just plain bizarre!! "TRISTA!! COME IN HERE AND BRING BLANKETS AND THE WATER BIN WITH A TOWEL!! ITS VINCENT!! HE'S ICE COLD AND HIS FEVER HAS COME BACK!!" shouted Averus. He heard running footsteps and nodded that it was Trista.  
  
Meanwhile in Vincent'ts dream.........  
  
  
  
Vincent was alone. All alone in a dark void as he sat there hugging his arms around his knees.   
  
"Where is everyone? Pops? Mother? Nanashi?" he asked. "WHERE ARE YOU!!?" he shouted.   
  
Then a deep voice rumbled. //They left you, everyone one of them. No body cares for you. You're all alone// it said.   
  
"That...that's not true!! I know someone cares about me....." Vincent replied.   
  
The voice laughed //I don't think so...take a look//.  
  
And so images of his team, his family and Street appeared and it showed lies of how the voice said that nobody cared. In the family one, his parents Squall and Kari were laughing with Nanashi after the fire burned and saying that they were glad he was gone. *Crack*. Another one showed his team giving up on him and leaving him to just lay there and not even try to wake him up and electing Averus as leader. *Crack*.   
  
And finally it showed Street walking along the alleys with Alexander and kissing him lovingly. that was it. *Crack!!* *SHATTER!!* something from inside Vincent left him and just shattered like broken glass. Vincent's arms left his knees as he suddenly fell backwards, his eyes deprived of all emotion as the darkness carried him away deeper. It was not just his feelings that were gone, but his soul to. Vincent had given into the lies of darkness and slowly leaving everyone behind.   
  
Averus looked very worried, there was nothing more they could do but wait. They had tried to make him as comfortable as possible, with bowl of cold water at his bed side.  
  
Trista sighed heavily, as she dabbed the wet cool cloth over his face, he was sweating cold, but hot to the touch. Occasionly he would shudder in is sleep, but that was the most they got out of him.  
  
Now nearlt midnight, she sat down on the floor beside Averus, leaning on his shoulder, the day had been very exhausting, she and Averus hadn't really left Vincents side all day. Not only that, now their neko-girl was missing, which worried her more.  
  
Averus settled his head on hers, as she leaned more on his chest, "He'll be okay, give him a few days,Tris'." he said softly.  
  
Trista sighed, 'And if he does get better, what about Maxell? Do you think maybe I shoul go ask Rayden? She and him are alwys quarreling, but they are also clsoe friends despite it all..." She trailed of suddenly before Averus could respond she gasped, "What if the Nigh Gang's have her? OR what if they hurt her, and she's at Rayden's? Rayden wont let her get killed, will he? will he?" She sat up suddenly.  
  
"Calm down! You know we can't go see Rayden, the Night Gangs will get US. And even if she's with Rayden, I know he'll protect her, she may be annoying, but Rayden isn't one to abbandon her, they have known eachother as long as her and Vincent have remember? She nearly became a Red Raider instead of a Shadow Blade." Averus reminded her softly.  
  
Trista nodded quietly, "I hate to admit it Averus, but im worried about her...and im glad Vincent took her in and not Clyde.." she muttered, calming down slightly.  
  
"Mee too." Averus smiled, as her rest on his shoulder.   
  
**Back at Tori's house**  
  
Kristy woke suddenly from a dream she could no longer remember, she would have bolted up right, but noticed that a gently, warm, weight around her waist was holding her down.  
  
Kristy turned her head, and nearly gasped, "Tori-kun..." she whispered, "He doesn't hate me...chotto...how did i get here?-" Kristy looke around the room, but suddnely remember the incident before she blacked out. "Oh.." Kristy sighed softly,  
  
"I hope he wasn't hurt int he process of protecting me..."  
  
"I wasn't." came a small quiet voice from beside her.  
  
"Tori-kun!" Kristy gasped, as she sat up, his arm still firmly wrapped around her waist as he sat up too.  
  
"How's your head?" he asked softly, his blush hidden in the dark.  
  
"I'm so sorry.." Kristy whispered ignoring the question, as she found herself wrapping ehr arms around his neck,   
  
"I was worried when Rayden was chasing you, my worry just came out in anger..I didn't mean-.." she trailed off into soft sobs.  
  
Tori sat there wide eyed for a moment, beofre her slowly hugged her back, "I jsut wanted to see if Eri-chan was right..."  
  
"I'm sorry for lying to you..." She whispered choking on another sob.  
  
Tori smiled softly, he knew she was really sorry, "I know why you lied to my Kristy-chan... But I'm not like Eri-chan and   
  
Mako-chan. You are who you are, no matter where you live." he whispered, as he slowly pushed her away, so he could wipe away her tears with his finger.  
  
"I know that now, Tori..." She looked down and suddnely blushed, "Anou...did you like my 'sorry present'?"  
  
Tori nodded, "It was wonderful Kristy, domo arigatou!"  
  
Tori laughed as he handed her a bag too, "I got you one too."  
  
Kristy blinked, "But why?"  
  
"Because I scared you, and I shouldn't have gone into the forbidden alleys." He said softly, pushing the bag into her hands.  
  
Kristy gasped softly as she pulled out a choker with two small bells on it and a winter hat with cat ears on the top.   
  
"Oh Tori-kun..." she was speechless, "..Arigatou..." well almost speechless.  
  
"Anou... Kristy-chan?" Tori asked softly.  
  
Kristy glanced up at him, "Hai?" as gave a light gasp as Tori leaned forward. //W-hat is he doing? Nani..?//  
  
Her hert beat raced, her breath quickened, her stomach churned and tingled in ectasy, while her throbbing heart had some how manged to settle itself in her throat and stay there, no matter how hard she tried to swallow it back down.  
  
Thier breath's mingled, and she found herself slowly shutting her eyes as he drew nearer.  
  
**Back to Street Blader**  
  
Street sat in her room alone, she was greeted in the alleys by a fuming Alex, Kiki, Kiara and Raleigh kept saying he was jealous, but Alex of course kept denying it. She had formed a large bruise on her forehead from, that baka neko-girls door, she touched it gently, "itaii..." she hissed, "Maxell is so dead." she muttered.  
  
But the bruise wasn't the real reason why she was uneasy, it was Vincent, everything he told her, she had kept from the people he was closest to, his team. They were trying to bring him back, without knowing the real reason-why he was acting strange. And now he had a fever, and was sick. Street didn't like worrying, but she couldn't help it.   
  
When Vincet came to, she would have to question him on somethings, but until then she decided it was best to try and foget about Vincent's state of weakness, before her worry controlled her completely.  
  
*back to Tori and Kristy*  
  
Mou, he was so close, she could almost feel his lips on her's, before, they both suddenly jumped apart, from the sound of footsteps. Both blushing brightly, Kristy hid herself under the covers, while Tori pretended to be sleeping.  
  
Mizuki-san peeked her head in Tori's room queitly trying not to wake him, she glanced around, then as silently as she could, shut the door again, and return to her room.  
  
Tori opened one eye to make sure Mizuki was gone, whent he coast was clear, he pulled back the covered to reveal, a very funny looking neko-girl. Her hair was a complete mess. Tori lightly quietly at this,  
  
  
  
"Nice hair."  
  
  
  
Kristy scowled at this, as she sat up, "Funny." She muttered sarcastically.  
  
Kristy's eyes suddenly widened, "Kuso!! I was suppose to be home before, dinner!" She crawled out of bed, ignoring her wild hair, "I really need to go.-huh?"  
  
Kristy blinked and glanced down to find Tori holding her wrist,   
  
"You're going no where! Have you forgotten about the Night Gangs?" he frowned.  
  
"I know how to handle myself in the alleys, I can move stealthfully and quickly like a cat, I can avoid them!" Kristy hissed back in a whisper.  
  
"I wont let you chance it!" And witht hat Tori pulled as hard as he could on her wrist, forcing her to fall ontop of him on his bed, despie the two blushing tomatoes, Tori managed to whisper, "You're staying here."  
  
Kristy blushed brightly, Tori still hadn't let go of her wrist, "Tori-kun..." she whispered as he inched closer, though their faces where already nearly touching, "My team will be worried...."  
  
No matter how much Kristy wanted to struggle, and yell excuses at him why she should leave, she couldn't bring herself into doing it, she just lay there ontop of him, letting him get closer.  
  
A sudden spark jolted Kristy's body, as Tori placed his lips on hers //Oh my god.... We're kissing...//  
  
//No Mistress, I thought you were tickling eachother.// Her KittieFae said sarcastically.  
  
//Shut....up....// She blushed brightly, as she slowly she allowed the ectasy of the kiss take her over. even if she wanted to fight this sudden feeling and gesture, there was no way in hell taht she could. She was drowning in the kiss, letting everything go. //Stupid Cupid...//   
  
Tori pulled away slowly, the neko-girl was still on top of him, and they were both blushing brightly, he was almost positive his face was glowing in the dark.  
  
"Tori-kun.." Kristy gasped outloud, as she finally came back to reality, her breath slightly fast.  
  
"G-gomen nasai..." Tori muttered, instantly letting go of her wrsit, so she could roll off of him, "I don't know what huh?"   
  
Tori was silenced by Kristy's lips on his again for a breif moment.  
  
"Don't apologise." She giggled softly.  
  
  
  
"Kristy-chan?" Tori blinked, as she giggled slightly, "You didn't mind?" he sounded a bit..well..shocked.  
  
Kristy shook her head timidly, "iie." she smiled softly, as she slowly rested her head on his strong warm chest, "I'm just glad you're not mad at me anymore." she blushed, "And I think that pretty much tells me, we're fine."  
  
Tori laughed lightly trying to hide his blush, "Then I guess we are even"  
  
******************************************************************************************************  
  
End of Chapter six 


	7. Fading Light: Giving In

Hiya people!! Sorry this took sooo long to update but the funny thing is...*sweat-drops* I kinda forgot about the fic..sorry!!! Hope you like this chapter of Born to Shadow Blade. I don't own anyone but Vincent, Nanashi, their bit-beasts and half the plot. The other half belongs to Mystic water who's helping me writing this and she owns Kristy Maxell. Enjoy and please R and R!! ************************************************************************** *************  
  
Kristy sighed as she snuggled more towards Tori's warms and slowly fell asleep listening to Tori breathe and his heart beating. 'Good night....tori-kun'. smiled Kristy in her sleep.  
  
Averus was still sitting in a chair next to Vincent's bed, but he had fallen asleep sometime ago and was shifting uneasily in his sleep, as he was seeing something in his dreams that was disturbing him a lot.  
  
~~Dream Sequence~~  
  
Averus blinked and looked confused as he looked around the black void he was standing in. 'Alright now this is just weird.' he thought as he walked around trying to figure out where in the world he was. 'Alright, I know the last thing I remember was that I was sitting in a chair next to Vincent's bed and I fell asleep, so logically I must be having a dream' concluded Averus.  
  
As he looked around he sweat-dropped and said out-loud,  
  
"Although by far is the most bizarre dream I've ever had."  
  
He shook his head and continued to walk, until he saw a familiar figure just standing there. At first glance he didn't know who it was until he got closer and saw a familiar mop of blond hair and a familiar red shirt with black pants.  
  
"VINCENT!!" shouted Averus.  
  
'Okay, now why the heck is VINCENT doing in my dream?' Averus thought but threw away logic and happily ran towards his leader and when he was in arm's reach away from him Vincent started turning around,  
  
"Vin....." started Averus but was cut short when he saw his eyes deprived of all emotions and soulless. Vincent stared at Averus and glared,  
  
"Why are you here traitor?" he asked.  
  
'Wha...traitor?' thought Averus confused, "But Vincent....how am I a traitor?" he asked.  
  
Vincent glared harder and then shouted at him angrily making Averus step back in surprise, "DON'T TALK LIKE YOU DON'T KNOW AVERUS SILENTSTORM!! YOU AND THE OTHERS ARE HAPPY THAT I'M IN THAT COMOTOSE STATE!! AND THEY CHOSE YOU AS THE LEADER YOU TRAITOR!!".  
  
Averus was very confused now, "Bu...but....Vincent!!..." he started  
  
"We're still waiting for you to come back!!! Please, me, Trish, Kristy and even Street are worried about you!! We'd never betray you!! We are your FRIENDS!!"  
  
Vincent seemed that he was about to reconsider when two large golden eyes glared at Averus, freezing him stiff on the spot, 'Wha...what the heck is that!!' he thought still frozen on the spot. He looked in horror as the golden eyes seemed to reach out towards Vincent and black swirls covered him and then the flicker of emotion that Averus had managed to get back disappeared quickly and Vincent was once again glaring at him and replied,  
  
"Lies....all you're telling me with lies!! No one cares for me!! Not my parents!! my friends and especially not Street!! NO ONE CARES SO GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!!"  
  
And as he finished saying that he raised his hand and an evil dark energy seem to be overflowing through Vincent as it was gathering in his hand.  
  
"You shall never tell anymore lies to me again, traitor." he muttered.  
  
Averus tried to shake his head but he was still frozen,  
  
"VINCENT LISTEN TO ME!! I'M NOT LYING!! JUST IGNORE THAT...THAT...THING AND LISTEN TO ME PLEASE!!" begged Averus but  
  
Vincent shook his head. "No more lies..." he replied, and then he quickly launched the energy at him and just as it was about to hit something collided into him and pushed him away. His eyes widened as he saw Arashi blocking the attack.  
  
"What the....now Arashi's in here!? What's going on!?"  
  
"AVERUS GO!!!" shouted Arashi and muttred something and then pointed a finger at him and shouted "Teleport!!"  
  
As Averus disappeared Arashi flung the energy some where else and glared at the golden eyes.  
  
"You stupid demon!! Why are you resisting me!! You should be aiding me instead!!" it shouted.  
  
Arashi spat back, "Yeah right. Why would I want to help an idiot like you? I'm going to protect Master Vincent with everything I got!!"  
  
The voice snarled back, "How you help your pathetic master? He's already fallen into darkness." Arashi smirked.  
  
"Not exactly he still has bit of himself left in him and I'm going to protect it!!" he shouted and grasped Vincent closely to him and shouted before the eyes could protest of stop him Arashi shouted, "MERGE NOW!!" and he disappeared into Vincent who fainted.  
  
The voice growled out, "Damn that stupid demon!! Now my plans are set back!!" he muttered.  
  
~~End of Dream Sequence~~  
  
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!" shouted Averus as he fell down out of his chair. His breathing was rapid and he was sweating.  
  
'It was just a dream. NONE of that could have been real. It was all just in my mind.' Averus thought trying to calm him down.  
  
He managed to get his breathing back to normal and stood up again.  
  
He shook his head and thought, 'But was the really Arashi? And since when can our bit-beasts come outside their beyblade? But if that really was Arashi......' thought Averus as he walked closer to Vincent's beside and looked at his beyblade he nearly dropped it in shocked and turned towards Vincent and saw that his hair had darken and some of it had black in it. For Arashi's bit-beast symbol was gone.  
  
'So it is true' Averus thought to himself.' Arashi did infact merge with Vincent but....what the HELL WAS that thing that froze me!?'he added and as he pondered this, he was not the only ones receiving these dreams. Oh no...two more were reciving a same experience as Averus had and they were Alexander and Street.  
  
Street suddenly found her self in a dark abyss of a mind, but it was not like her own. It was black, cold and void. It sent shivers down her spine. She walked around aimlessly in the dark, before she spotted a familiar figure, kneeling down.  
  
"Vincent?" She frowned as she approached the Shadow Blader.  
  
Vincent glared up at her, his eyes had gone gray and cold, nearly as dark looking as the void surrounding them, "What do you want, bitch?"  
  
Street smirked, "You know I take that as a compliment."  
  
Although, his voice sounded nothing like his own, malice was dripping off of every word, "What's wrong with you? Are you feeling better, or what?" she snapped.  
  
"Oh, fuck off! Go screw that little inu no baka of yours. Your obedient little koinu(puppy)!!" He yelled angrily, getting to his feet, so he was face to face with Street.  
  
Street frowned, "What's wrong with you? What's with your snappy attitude, I don't like that tone Shadow Blader!" Street said warningly, her eyes narrowing.  
  
"Your happy that I'm unconscious! You're glad I won't wake you, so now I don't get in between you and your little ice puppy-!!" he hissed angrily.  
  
"Vincent, for fuck's sakes! I was worried about you! Why do you think I brought you to your Shadow Bladers?!?!? And why are you acting so jealous towards Alex! I knew you were jealous, but personal attack is below you Kojii!!!" Street yelled back.  
  
"Liar!!" Vincent yelled back in her face, the sudden gesture catching her off-guard, a s she stepped back a step. "Quit with the lies, bitch, your a horrible LIAR!!!"  
  
At Vincent's sudden outburst, he pushed her away from him with all of his worth, allowing her to fall backwards into the dark abyss!!  
  
~~end of dream sequence~~  
  
Street shot out of bed, waking in a cold sweat Street glanced around her room,  
  
"What the Fuck was that?!?!?" she gasped loudly, well it was indeed a dream...but what the hell was that about??!!?  
  
Alexander glared heatedly at the smirking Shadow Blader as they once again fought each other. Alex shifted uneasily from one foot to another as the place seemed to loom over him giving him chills.  
  
"What's wrong you baka koinu.....tired of loosing..." Vincent said.  
  
Alex looked up to shout back at Vincent but he closed his mouth before he said anything. Usually when he looked at Vincent his eyes they showed mocking and confidence at him, but when he stared at them now, they seemed dead and desolate as he stared at them.  
  
"O...of course not you baka Shadow Blader" he replied glaring, but he was still a little creeped out about it. Suddenly their beyblades disappeared and left a confused Alex staring at where their beyblades once were.  
  
"The hell!! What's going on Kojii!?" shouted Alex but he was a bit freaked out on how coldly Vincent was staring at him more than usual.  
  
"I can finally get rid of you...you baka koinu. I bet you're satisfied that I'm weakened right now." he growled out.  
  
Alex just stared at Vincent mouth agape.  
  
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!!" he shouted, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY 'WEAKENED' STATE!?"  
  
Vincent growled back at him glared more harshly towards Alex, that he took a step back.  
  
"You are such a liar Anderson...you know that?" Vincent stated as he started walking towards Alex.  
  
"What are you talking about Koji? When have I lied to you? And what WOULD I lie to you about? WE'RE RIVALS FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!" Alex shouted, taking more steps away from the walking Vincent.  
  
Suddenly he just stopped and Alex's eyes widened as he tried to move his feet but was unable to as they were planted to the ground and Vincent was getting closer, his devoid eyes staring straight at him. When Vincent was right face to face with Alex he leaned closer and whispered one word in his ear.  
  
"......sayonara...."  
  
Alex paled and his pale blue eyes widened as he stared into the dark eyes for Vincent and suddenly he felt himself falling backwards and the last thing he saw the a large black shadow behind Vincent with two golden eyes.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"KOJII!!" shouted Alex, breathing heavily. He looked around and sighed. He was in his room. He put a shaky hand to his forehead and felt that he was sweating heavily.  
  
"What the hell did that baka mean by weakened state.." He growled out, still pondering on what the dream meant.  
  
"Kristy... Kristy-chan..." Someone was gently shaking her awake, the neko- girl moaned and rolled over.  
  
"5 more mins..." she groaned, as she hid underneath her pillow.  
  
"KRISTY!!!" A voice yelled playfully, bouncing ont he bed, in an attempt to wake her up.  
  
"Nooooo..." She whined back, but gasped when she felt someone softly kiss her cheek. Her eyes flashed open to stare at Tori.  
  
Tori grinned, "Ohayou!"  
  
Kristy blinked, she had nearly forgotten about the night before, "Ohayou." she yawned quietly before rubbing her eyes.  
  
"Hurry up!" Tori smiled, "Wake up, and put this on!" he placed his school uniform for the girls on the bed.  
  
Kristy stared down at black shoes and long white stockings with the white school blouse and the black school scarf, as well as the short black mini skirt. Kristy glanced up at Tori,  
  
"You want me to wear THAT?!?" she gasped.  
  
Tori nodded, "Your coming to school with me today, I'll meet you downstairs." and with that he left the room leaving Kristy no room to argue as he shut the door.  
  
Kristy had a worried yet disgusted look plastered on her face, "Of all clothing.. why do the schools insist on skirts?" she whined.  
  
~~~School~~~ Kristy growled in frustration as she walked along side Tori, while trying to pull on the annoying short black skirt that didn't even go halfway down to her thighs, downward - with no such luck. Another reason why she hated the city, the school uniforms screamed the name slut. It was clear from her tugging she did not like the skirt, unlike the other girls who loved to show off their long legs and ivory skin. She mentally cursed, and wondered why her white stockings that came right up her slender legs couldn't go any higher, or maybe her skirt could go lower, like, past her knees!!  
  
Tori chuckled at this, "You need to put up with it, Kristy-chan, its the school policy."  
  
"Couldn't they let us wear jeans or something...less revealing?" she whined, before sending a few glares at the girls would stare after her and Tori ominously.  
  
Tori just laughed before he caught a glimpse of Kaze, "Kaze!!" he waved, "Over here." he called catching his friends attention as Kristy and Tori caught up with Kaze.  
  
Kaze looked up from where he just shut his locker door, "So you two made up did you." he smirked, but glanced at Kristy, eyeing her up and down,  
  
"Did you ask Mizuki-san for that uniform?"  
  
Tori nodded, and glanced at Kristy was bristling in anger, as she tried desperately to cover her legs, "Stop staring at me!!" she whined, but her eyes gave away a threatening aura, "I mean it!!" she hissed, "Stare at the other sluts in this school!!"  
  
Tori laughed, as both Kristy and Kaze blushed deeply.  
  
"I wasn't STARING!!! I was wondering where you got that uniform!!" Kaze growled back.  
  
"HENTAI!!" Kristy screeched, hiding behind Tori, "I wanna put on some jeans Tori..." she whined loudly.  
  
Kaze glared at the neko girl, "I'm not a hentai..." he muttered.  
  
Tori patted his friends shoulder, "She's just mad because she don't like skirts."  
  
"That's an understatement." Kristy muttered back, "I HATE them." she scowled, before Tori took a hold of her arm.  
  
"C'mon Kristy-chan, We have one more class before lunch. You coming Kaze?" Tori glanced back at his friend who nodded, and followed them to the Gym.  
  
"Tori-kun.how am I suppose to participate in THIS?" Kristy glanced down at her uniform, before Kaze handed her the girls gym strip. "Huh?"  
  
Kaze frowned, still kinda angry for being called a hentai, "Mizuki-san told me to give this to you. You change int eh girl's room" he said dully, as Kristy took the clothing before watching Kaze and Tori enter the boy's room to change too.  
  
Kristy shrugged as she entered the girls room earning lots of glares from the girls, mainly Eri, Mako, and their friends. Kristy scowled back as she entered a stall and changed into her gym strip.  
  
~~Gym~~  
  
Tori kept glancing to the girl's change room whenever the door opened, "I hope Kristy-chan don't mind this uniform."  
  
"Ya, cause God knows what I'll be called next." Kaze frowned causing his friend to laugh,  
  
"I'm not a hentai." he scowled, causing Tori to laugh harder.  
  
"Look!" Tori gasped, as Kristy quietly walked out of the changing room, blushing lightly as she glanced down at her self. A plain white tee-shirt with the schools logo on the left shoulder, and black shorts that were the same length as the skirt, as well as the usual long white stockings that came up just past her knees and white sneakers. Her lush ruby hair was up in a messy pony-tail. She glanced around and beamed proudly as she noticed what sport the school was doing this week. Gymnastics.  
  
"Perfect." Kristy grinned, as she made her way over to Tori and Kaze.  
  
Kristy was about to say hello to her friends when Eri bounced in front of her, challenge flaring in her eyes.  
  
"What do you want?" Kristy snapped.  
  
"I challenge you!" ERi smirked pointing her index finger at the neko- girl, "To a gymnastic competition, right here, right now, before the bell!" she sneered.  
  
Kristy batted the annoying girls hand away, "What's the prize?" she asked back, calmness in her voice.  
  
Tori and Kaze glanced around Eri's shoulder to stare at Kristy, "I wouldn't Kristy, she's the best gymnast here. She always gets an A."  
  
Eri ignored Tori, " He's the prize," she glanced back at Tori. smirking slightly.  
  
Tori nearly fell over, "HEY!! Now hold on a minute-"  
  
"I accept."  
  
Tori gasped, "Kristy!!!" his eyes widened as Eri smirked in triumph, before doing a fluent cartwheel into a handspring.  
  
"Dumb move, baka neko. We each get one chance, who's ever is the best wins." Eri said dully, "And I go first." she smirked.  
  
Kristy shrugged, "I'm waiting," she frowned as she watched Eri get into position.  
  
Eri scowled, before she continued with her fluid cartwheels, with the occasional one handed cartwheel, springing into a back handspring, and flipping over back wards, to steadily land on her feet with perfect form. Her friends clapped loudly, even a few teachers had gathered around with amused smirks on their faces.  
  
"If your trying to intimidate me, it's not working Eri.." She huffed, "In case you forgot, not only do I possess neko like abilities, but I come from the alleys, like you so cleverly figured out. I've picked up on a few traits that I use in alley fights." she said loudly, ignoring the loud gasps at her announcement.  
  
She smirked before flipping back into a round-off back handspring, followed by a back-walk-over, continuing with a sequence of fluid cartwheels and back flips, before thrusting her self up with one hand and landing with equal swiftness as Eri did.  
  
"I tend to do better when I'm fighting, but since I'm not fighting you. I'll have to settle with that,"  
  
Teacher's and students clapped loudly, no one was about to show Kristy off, she and one this match fair and square.  
  
"Looks like Tori's mine, Eri." she grinned innocently.  
  
Tori blushed deeply, as Kristy wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead, before returning to Kaze and Tori's side. "  
  
I guess being an alley kid comes in handy huh?" she smiled warmly, as both boys nodded and ERi and Mako growled angrily.  
  
The bell rang signaling the start of class, and most of the class was full of competition on Kristy's part. And it wasn't easy. She may have beaten Eri, but all of her friends wanted revenge, including Mako. But of course they were nothing compared to her alley skills. But by the time lunch arrived, the neko was exhausted. Kristy sighed heavily as she sat in a tree, on a shaded branch above Kaze and Tori who ate their lunch.  
  
"You should eat Kristy, you really out-did yourself this morning." Tori glanced up at the neko.  
  
Kristy yawned as she stretched in the tree, "I'm fine. I'm used to that kinda workout. Besides I've had worst from Vincent- VINCENT!! Oh my god!!" she gasped nearly falling out of the tree.  
  
Kaze and Tori blinked at this, "Vincent?"  
  
"He's my Gang Leader, oh Kuso!! I've been gone nearly 24hrs!!" she jumped out of the tree, landing gracefully on her hands and knees, "I was suppose to be home for dinner last night!!" she gasped, as she started to make a run towards the exit of the school grounds - but a hand caught her wrist.  
  
"Do you really have to go?" Tori asked sadly, keeping a firm grip on her wrist. Kristy nodded,  
  
"I'm sorry Tori-kun! I really gotta go!" Kristy briskly leaned in and softly kissed him on the lips, this sudden gesture caught him off guard and he loosened his grip allowing Kristy to go free,  
  
"We'll continue that later." she winked before racing off leaving blushing Tori with a smirking Kaze.  
  
she began into a full out sprint, towards the exit area to get off the school property area. But she was stopped abruptly, when Eri and Mako- chan stepped in front of her, once again scowling. Kristy slid to a strop, glaring at the girls for interrupting her run. "WHAT NOW?!?!" she asked hastily.  
  
"I saw you kiss Tori!!!" Eri shrieked flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder.  
  
"Your point?" Kristy scowled back, already reaching for her beyblade.  
  
"No one kisses Tori and gets away with it!" Mako hissed, her green hair contrasting with her angry blue eyes.  
  
Mako swung a punch at Kristy. Kristy stepped back, batting the fist out of her way. This only infuriated Mako more, as she swung with the other arm, Kristy huffed as she blocked the arm downward sending Mako face first into the dirt.  
  
"Are you quite done?" Kristy scowled, as Mako growled angrily.  
  
"Mako-chan stop!" Eri hissed from above, "She's a Shadow Blader remember!"  
  
Mako still got to her feet preparing to strike again, but in an instant, Kristy's aqua blade was aimed right at Mako's head.  
  
"Now, where do I remember this from?" Kristy, Kristy sneered sarcastically, "Oh yes, when I first met you two bitches, you attempted to stop me, and I had to refrain myself from ripping you to shreds. You're lucky i'm in a hurry or I would fire my icy cat on you." and with that said, Kristy raced past them, heading towards the Northside alleys.  
  
Kristy's anger had died down as she raced into her apartment, catching Averus's and Trista's attention.  
  
"KRISTY!!" both gasped at the same time, as Trista raced to give her friend a hug but paused,  
  
"Err.Maxell... What in Kami sakes are you wearing??"  
  
Averus even had to smirk, oh this was too good, for all the times she teased him about his frilly pink apron, the skirt hater herself.was wearing one.  
  
"Nice suit." he smirked.  
  
Kristy blushed furiously, trying to pull the skirt downwards.  
  
"Sh-shut up!" she growled.  
  
"Maxell... You look like a...slut.." Trista said bluntly.  
  
"Thank's Tris', I really missed you too." Kristy hissed back sarcastically, before she stalked to her room so she could change.  
  
"HOII!!! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!?!?"  
  
Kristy sighed, it was about time they asked.  
  
Kristy sighed as she took off the school's uniform and changed into her regular jeans and shirt. Once change she walked out and met with worried glances of Averus and Trista.  
  
"So where the heck were you?" asked Averus sighing and grabbing a soda and tossing one to Kristy.  
  
"Eerr.....well I was...." stuttered Kristy nervous.  
  
Trista suddenly smirked, "Its not like you spent the night and half the day with a boy right? I mean come on!! What boy can you stand that doesn't insult you?" she asked laughing. Kristy opened her drink and quietly muttered,  
  
"Maybe a city-kid...".  
  
Then Trista added, "Besides its not like you spent the day with a CITY- KID!!"  
  
When she didn't hear and shouts of denial, she swerved her head and stared at a blusing Kristy, who was quietly sipping her soda. Trista and Averus stared at the quiet neko-jin.  
  
"Kristy, please tell me you didn't spend the night with a city-kid..." Trista said.  
  
Averus just kept quiet about this,  
  
"I had no choice. It was really late at night and I was trying to get something and I was attacked by two drunk thugs and....he saved me....he took me back to his house and treated me and stayed with me." she replied quietly, staring at her drink.  
  
Trista stared at Kristy, and suddenly she stared closer..."Kristy....what's that around your neck?" she asked.  
  
At first she was wondering what she was talking about, until she remembered the choker that Tori had given her. The black choker collar with two gold bells on it. Kristy blushed.  
  
"Its...an apology gift he got me..." she replied.  
  
Averus grinned, "So this kids your boyfriend? Did ya kiss?"  
  
Kristy blushed deeper, "Uh huh...".  
  
Trista and Averus spat out their drinks and this caught Kristy's attention as she stared at the two nearly choking.  
  
"You're serious!! So what was it like?" asked Trista grinning. Kristy stuck out her tongue after she finished the rest of her soda.  
  
"I'm not telling!!" she laughed and ran off towards the hallway as Trista chased after her, wanting an answer.  
  
She laughed as she continued down the hallways until she felt something very very chilling around her. When Trista saw her sudden stop she too started to feel cold.  
  
"Trista, is the air conditioner on full blast on cold?" Kristy asked.  
  
Trista shook her head. "No...it shouldn't even be on...but its not coming from the air conditioner anyway...it's coming from..." started Trista as they both looked towards the source and said in unison,  
  
"Vincent's room".  
  
They were about to go towards it when their beyblades started glowing. Kristy's an ice blue and Trista's a calm green.  
  
//Mistress!! Please don't go in there!! Its unsettling and making hairs on my back stick up!!// cried KitteFae.  
  
//Listen Tris, something......unnatural is happening to Vincent. This is not a normal illness. KitteFae, Kyoshi and I haven't felt very calm when we came close to his room. It's....so devoid of any feeling.// added Dominion.  
  
Trista and Kristy looked at each other frightened.  
  
"AVERUS!! COME OVER HERE PLEASE!! SOMETHING MAY BE WRONG WITH VINCENT AND NOT BECAUSE HE'S SICK!!" they shouted.  
  
Averus came running up the stairs and met with two very worried Shadow Blades.  
  
"So...what's the problem..." he asked huffing  
  
"KitteFae senses something wrong with Vincent." stated Kristy. Trista nodded,  
  
"Dominion is uneasy too!! They stopped us from going inside and so we don't know what to do."  
  
Averus thought. 'Maybe that dream I had with that black figure has something to do with this.'.  
  
"Girls stay here. I'm going in and don't move alright." Averus said, the girls nodded and Averus pushed the door opened.  
  
He looked inside and everything seemed normal. When he walked up to Vincent he saw what Trista and Kristy meant. He felt a strong, dark force practically surrounding Vincent and he saw a small dark aura was all the way up to his waist.  
  
"What...what's going on?" Averus said out-loud as he reached out a hand to touch Vincent when he quickly pulled back as something was about to grab him.  
  
'Master I think I've seen this before. Its a demon that is not like us...its is one of the forbidden bit-beasts.' Kyoshi stated.  
  
''forbidden bit-beasts.why?'' Averus asked.  
  
'They were an unimaginably strong and nearly had no equal, unless they were up against elites. But the problem with them is that they take over their blader and slowly kill him. First is illness, second is erasing of emotions...third is getting the host to hate his team/friends by putting their dreams into his head and fighting with them...fourth is control, fifth......sacrificial.'' finished Kyoshi sadly.  
  
''wait a minute...sacrificial!? What does it mean by THAT Kyoshi!?'' Averus shouted mentally to his bit-beast.  
  
'The demon must be INSIDE its host and that's how it slowly kills it. The sacrificial part means, that in order for the demon to gain more power and be relived of its host is to sacrifice someone, the host, to continue. That's why they're forbidden. No bit-beast is to ever harm their master.' replied Kyoshi.  
  
Averus blinks...  
  
'Kyoshi...you said the third part was hating team/friend...I think that already happened...I had a dream that Vincent was yelling at me and saying that I, the team, and Street betrayed him!!' he shouted.  
  
''Not good!! not good!! That means the fourth is already half way through!!' shouted Kyoshi.  
  
"DAMMIT!!" shouted Averus catching the attention of Trista and Kristy.  
  
"Averus!! What's happening!! do you know what's wrong with Vincent!?" shouted Kristy.  
  
Avuers walked out of the room, sweating and very worried. He mutely nodded, but before he could explain it to them, a loud knocking came from their front door. They walked down and  
  
Trista opened the door and saw that it was a tired looking Street and an exhausted Alex. The rest of Dark Alley Bladers were there too.  
  
"Where is Vincent..." Street said, as her team walked in. Averus shook his head.  
  
"He's worse off then when you brought him here." replied sadly.  
  
"Silentstorm, do you know what's happening?" Alexander asked taking a seat on the couch. As the others followed his example and sat down.  
  
"Unfortunately I have good news and bad news." Averus said.  
  
kiki yawned and replied, "Let's hear the good news. We only know tidbits of it from Street." she said.  
  
Averus nodded, "The good news is I know what's wrong with Vincent." he said.  
  
"So what is it?" asked Kiara looking around. "He's been taken over by a forbidden bit-beast, that's slowing killing him."  
  
Kiara blinked, "So what's the bad news?"  
  
"That is the bad news, you baka." Kiki scowled, as Street glanced down the hall in the direction of Vincent's room. Kristy sighed heavily as she stood farthest from the group, her arms folded, and her uneasy glances from the Dark Alleys, to her team and back down to Vincent's room didn't go unnoticed.  
  
Alex glanced at the neko girl then back at Averus, "And what are we suppose to do?"  
  
A dark purple light came from the blank beyblade from Averus's pocket. He took it out and suddenly dropped it as Arashi.....or what appeared to be Arashi come out.  
  
"ARASHI!!" shouted Street, surprising everyone,  
  
"How the hell do we save Vincent!!" she cried. Arashi grimaced and replied, "I know...wh.why...the...demon....came....af...after...Vinc...Vincent...." said Arashi.  
  
"Arashi-san!! What's wrong!?" shouted Raleigh.  
  
"I'm trying to delay that demon from fully controling Vincent..it...pu...puts...a.lot... of...stres...on...you...whe.n....yo.u...not....complete..." replied Arashi.  
  
"Complete!? What do you mean and how does this draw back to Vincent!?" shouted Trista.  
  
"It's something....Street....reme...mber...wha.what...Vincent....told...you....w he.. n...this...started..." started Arashi as everyone turned towards the shocked Street, and then Arashi turned to Kyoshi,  
  
"Kyo..shi....remember...wh..what...I...had...told you that...night...what...did...I...say..?" Arashi asked.  
  
A lavender color came out of Averus's blade and there stood Kyoshi in his human form.  
  
"Arashi...was...this what you meant?" he asked.  
  
Arashi nodded. Kristy looked between the dazed Street, the understanding Kyoshi, and the transparent Arashi.  
  
"Well someone PLEASE explain what is going on!?" she shouted. Arashi shook his head,  
  
"Gomen nasai minna, I cannot communicate much longer....I...ARRGH!! GO FIND HIM!! KYOSHI!! STREET!! YOU TWO KNOW!!" shouted Arashi as he disappeared.  
  
Everyone was left bliking and staring at the two in question.  
  
"Street, please. What did Vincent tell you?" asked Averus. "Kyoshi you too." stated Averus.  
  
"Vincent told me...hes been having these dreams.....about his past." started Street.  
  
"Go on..." added Kiki.  
  
"He...he said that before he became an alley kid he had a family...and...and..."  
  
"and what?" asked Raleigh,  
  
"He had a younger brother...the only name he gave me before he fainted was he weakly called out 'Nanashi'." she finished. Then everyone turned towards Kyoshi.  
  
"Its the same thing...Arashi has another half. He has a hikari...an angel counter-part..." added Kyoshi.  
  
"So what does this hafta to do with our situation?" asked Alex speaking for once.  
  
"It was balance Arashi told me this. He hasn't had his lighter side in two years. So what happens to darkness if there is no light to balance it?" Kyoshi replied, saying the exact words that Arashi spoke to him.  
  
"It becomes unbalance and chaos....THAT'S IT!!" shouted Kristy, standing up surprising everyone.  
  
"What's it Maxell." asked Street frowning at the neko.  
  
"Don't you see!! Vincent's missing a brother, Arashi is missing his light side!! CHAOS comes when there is no balance. So all we have to do is FIND the light!!" Kristy shouted.  
  
"She's right!! But that's nearly impossible!! We don't even know what hey look like!!" cried Kiara, bringing gloom back. There were several groans and frustrated sighs.  
  
"Wait a minute!! I remember!! Vincent told me to use this key!!" shouted Averus. Suddenly running to his room and looking for a certain item that Vincent handed to him.  
  
'If I ever become incapacitated and you need a clue...use this key on the blue door in the hallway' were his exact words. Averus held out a small silver key and was getting strange looks.  
  
"He said to use this if he ever became....eerrr.like how he was. Remember that blue door he doesn't let anyone into?" he replied.  
  
Trista and Kristy nodded, "Yeah, he wouldn't let anyone in there. So now we're going to find now?" they said.  
  
Averus nodded and he ran up stairs with everyone following him. He stopped in front of the familiar blue door and inserted the key and opened it. He reached his hand over to the wall and opened the lights. Everyone was surprised. The room looked to fit a younger child. Several of toys and art supplies were there, and a computer. On the bed were blue and white bed covers and a couple of photo albums. Street walked over and picked on up one, and leafed through it. She saw strange pictures to her of Vincent actually laughing and smiling with two adults. She continued to turn the page and stopped when it came to one photo. She stared at it. It had Vincent in there, but the strange thing is that Arashi was there behind him. Next to him was an innocent looking red-headed boy with teal eyes and behind him was a tall long blue haired angel, with smiling azure eyes.  
  
"Guys...I think I found them"  
  
Street put down the photo album and took out the photo as they looked at it. When Kristy saw the two familiar figures she silently gasped to herself,  
  
'It couldn't be!! They were just hallucinations when I was nearly unconscious when Tori saved me....' thought Kristy.  
  
Kristy picked up the picture and stared at it closely. She remembered it almost clearly: Behind Tori were two ghostly figures. One was a tall blue- headed, blue eyed angel with white silk shirt and pants with silver and green armor on with white wings pulled in and a sword strapped to his back. The other figure was a young boy about Tori's age with red hair darker than hers and teal eyes staring sadly at her. She blinked again and they disappeared.  
  
And this picture...it looked exactly like them...  
  
"Tori-kun.could it be?" she gasped in a whisper.  
  
Street glanced at Kristy, "What did you say Maxell?"  
  
Kristy swallowed hard, tears were nearly forming. It made sense... Arashi's.opposite.this angel.combined. And when Kristy hurt her ankle.Tori healed her...  
  
"Maxell??"  
  
Kristy glanced back up at the people staring at her, "I think I know where Vincent's brother is...anou...but-.." Kristy glanced back down at the picture,  
  
"It just doesn't make sense..."  
  
Trista frowned at her Teammates odd behavior, "How can you possibly know where his brother is? When Vincent don't even know?"  
  
Kristy stared back up sadly at Trista, "Remember that 'boyfriend' you were teasing me about?"  
  
Both Trista and Averus went wide eyed at this, "The city-kid?!?"  
  
Kristy glanced away sadly, did Tori even know about this? Or was this just one big misunderstanding.... or was Tori lying to her, like she had lied to him...  
  
"What in kami's sakes are you three going on about?!?!" Street growled, "Maxell, do you know where his brother is or not?!!"  
  
Kristy shook her head, "I don't know..." she said just above a whisper, "Excuse me..." desperate to get away before the Dark alleys noticed her tears, she briskly left the room, and ran out of the apartment. She winced as she heard Street call her name angrily, but she wouldn't get Tori involved until she was positive it was him.  
  
~~Back with Tori and Kaze~~  
  
Tori and Kaze were making their way out of the school; the day was now finally over.  
  
"Well, that was an interesting day, huh Tori?"  
  
Kaze glanced back at his friend who nodded sheepishly.  
  
"So, what's going on between you and that neko alley girl?"  
  
Tori blushed, and shrugged, refusing to answer his friend.  
  
Kaze elbowed his friend in he side, "I saw that kiss she gave you, and you liked it!!"  
  
Tori's blush grew deeper, "So!!"  
  
"Heh, what a comeback Tori!" Kaze laughed, but stopped suddenly, as they just left the school yard to see, none other than Kristy herself, running straight for them, "Speaking of the oni neko (devil cat)." he smirked.  
  
Tori's blush faded, when he saw faint tears glistening in her eyes, "Kristy? What's wrong?"  
  
"Tori-kun!! Please, walk with me!! I need to talk to you." she gasped in between breaths.  
  
Tori nodded uncertainly, "Kay, I'll see you later Kaze." he gave his friend a small smile, before following Kristy back to his house.  
  
"What's wrong?" he asked as they approached his house, stopping in front of her, "Your crying." he noted.  
  
Kristy huffed, trying to wipe the tears away, "Tori... Tell me how you healed my ankle!!" she gasped.  
  
Tori blinked at this, and kinda looked a little worried; he had forgotten he had showed her his ability.  
  
"Tell me, Tori!!!" She gasped loudly. "Onegai!!"  
  
Tori glanced away, "I don't know. I'm not sure how I got it, it's just some freak ability I have, heck I don't even know who my parents are - I don't even know IF i have parents or if I'm even human. Mizuki and Tokiya found me when I was little. Trust me Kristy, it hasn't been easy not knowing anything all these years... Gomen, but I really don't know how I can heal, like that." He said softly.  
  
Tori gasped when he felt Kristy stroke his cheek gently, "I don't know much Tori, but I know you are human," she smiled softly.  
  
Before wrapping her arms around his neck, trying her best not to cry, the possibility was still there, but at least she knew he wouldn't lie to her. However, she felt bad, because if she was right, he's been living a lie for so long, he doesn't even know who he is anymore... Kristy sighed as Tori wrapped his arms around her.  
  
/But what if he is Vincent's little brother? Would he still remember me if he and his bit beast returned to normal?// Kristy gasped at this, tears already forming, //I don't want him to forget...//  
  
Tori pulled away to stare at Kristy, "what's wrong?" he asked softly.  
  
((this could be another reason why she refused to take him to Vincent until it gets really serious!!))  
  
Kristy took in a deep breath, "I don't want you to forget me." she gasped before she could come up with an alternate reason.  
  
Tori gave a small smile with a confused look, "Silly, what makes you think I could forget you?"  
  
Kristy shook her head trying her best to put on a fake smile, "Nevermind. Tori, can I stay with you for awhile, I really don't wanna return to my gang just yet."  
  
Tori smiled and nodded.  
  
**Back at the Shadow Bladers**  
  
Street scowled and Averus and Trista, "What was she babling about?"  
  
Trista sighed, "Kristy went missing yesterday, and didn't come back till this morning. She said she spent the time away with a city kid who saved her from some City Thugs."  
  
Street raised an eyebrow, "And she thinks this kid is Vincent's brother, because...?"  
  
Trista shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine, Street."  
  
Kiara frowned ignoring most of the conversation, "So, what's with this boyfriend business then?" she asked suddenly, causing everyone to fall anime style - so much for the seriousness factor...  
  
**BAck to Tori and Kristy**  
  
Kristy sighed heavily, as she lay on her tummy on Tori's bed, her head resting in her palms, as her fett kicked in the air. While Tori sat on teh ground working on his latest sketch.  
  
He really did seem to have the same attributes as ...what was his name? Nanashi... Vincent's brother seemed to love drawing and painting... In fact she was near positive that Tori, was the combination of Nanashi and his angel bit beast, but she refused to say that to her team. They would take him away from her. and possibly erase his memory. She couldn't let that happen. She wasn't about to give up Tori THAT easily.  
  
Tori stood in a white clouded area, staring up at two innocent looking figures, the figures he had 'spontaneously' drew in his sketch book.  
  
"wh-who are you?" he gasped quietly, blinking at the red headed boy, and the blue haired angel.  
  
Neither of the two said a word, as suddenly flashes of pictures and vivid images flash through his memory like white-hot shards, paining him at little. A woman, a man.... And a slightly older figure than himself, protecting him from a tall ruddy looking man. mixed emotions filled his heart, anger, sadness, loneliness, and happiness all clouded together in one heap of visions... He felt so strange. why were these images sending shiver's down his spine, no matter how vaguely familiar they seemed slightly, he was still utterly confused. He was now on the floor, staring up at the taller blonde figure, who stared down at Tori proudly.  
  
"Otouto (little brother..)...?" The tall blonde muttered, his eyes were glazed over, the void that reached within him was fading, as he turned fully reaching his hand out towards Tori.  
  
Tori frowned at this, but let his hand reach out to grab the older boy's hand. But only found himself falling farther away from eh figure, darkness clouding over the blondes body. Although Tori didn't know this boy, he was desperate to save him from the darkness, with no avail, as he fell farther away, pain and sadness filling his heart.  
  
~~end of Tori's dream~~  
  
**Back to the Shadow Blader's**  
  
The cold shrilling aura that surrounded Vincent's room refused to leave, as Averus burst into the room seeing his pale leader tossing and turning within a dream, "Vincent!! Tris, get him some water!!" Trista quickly complied, as Street and her Dark Alleys could do nothing but watch from the sidelines, praying that Averus knew what he was doing.  
  
~~Vincent's dream~~  
  
Vincent scowled angrily as he watched Alex fall from his sight, before he felt faint warmth from behind, turning, only glancing back he saw the eyes of a young boy, who stared innocently up at him, he was just a confused as Vincent himself.  
  
"Otouto (little brother...)...?" Vincent muttered quietly, in a daze, ignoring the raging voice in his head telling him to kill this boy, the void that reached within Vincent's eyes was fading slightly, as he turned fully reaching his hand out towards the boy that so faintly gave the vibe of Nanashi.  
  
"Fool!!" a voice roared in his head, causing Vincent to stumble back, as more darkness clouded over him, blurring the vision of the boy who was reaching for him too.  
  
"You are alone, no one is there for you, they all are waiting for your death!!!" it seethed as it sent white shards of hot pain through his mind and body, causing him to yell out loud in both his dream and out loud, shocking both Averus and Trista.  
  
~~Tori and Kristy~~  
  
Kristy sat up straight, waking Tori in the process as she bolted up. She was gasping loudly, something was horribly wrong, Vincent's state was getting worse, and she knew, that he would die soon if she didn't bring Nanashi to him. Tears flowing from her eyes as she glanced at a worried Tori, she had no choice, this was her only and last hope in saving Vincent.  
  
"Kristy?"  
  
"Tori please come with me. I'll explain when we get to my apartment, just, pleases don't ask, and come with me!" Kristy said hastily, wiping her tears, as she grabbed onto his wrist as he nodded.  
  
~~Shadow Bladers~~  
  
They had left Vincent alone in his room, the cold and the void of angst was unbearable it was now making even Averus queasy, let alone his bit beast.  
  
"What are we suppose to do? He's not gunna make it through the night, and only Kristy has the faintest idea where his kid brother is!!" Kiki scowled, as she folded her arms, before she sat down beside Alex on the couch. Alex merely glanced at his companion before turning to Averus, the one who usually had all the answers. But this time Averus was just as stuck as everyone else.  
  
"There's not much more we can do. We've made him as comfortable as possibly."  
  
"Which did little to nothing." Trista muttered, leaning her head on his shoulder, while Street scowled from the kitchen leaning on the wall, while Kiara and Raleigh sat quietly on the love seat, completely clueless as well.  
  
Street was about to add a rude comment about the baka neko, just as the door burst open, and Kristy dragged in the confused innocently looking Tori. Everyone glanced up to see a tear stained Kristy and the little innocent Tori. Kristy had explained everything along the way, and to be honest he took this news rather well, and seemed uneasily calm. Averus said nothing but,  
  
"Follow me." and with that Tori nodded, with Kristy and Trista on their heels.  
  
Averus tried to steady himself as he entered the hallway that lead to Vincent's room, the void and cold making him feel sick again. He pointed at Vincent's door, "He's in there."  
  
Tori nodded and was about to step forward, when he noticed Kristy had a hold of his wrist, and tears were streaming from her eyes. He smiled softly at this,  
  
"Kristy-chan its ok..."  
  
"Iie Tori, it's not...Your gunna forget me... I don't wanna lose you..." Kristy sobbed quietly trying to avoid eye contact.  
  
Tori smiled as best as he could, "Silly, I'm not gunna forget you," he lifted her chin so he could look at her properly, "I promise, I'm not leaving you."  
  
Kristy and he shared one more lustful kiss before, he wiped away one of her tears and turned to go again. This time, she hesitantly letting his hand go, her body trembling, she knew once she let go, he could possibly be gone forever, he would never remember her again. He would be Nanashi, a boy she thought she knew, but someone completely different. She let out a loud sob as she let his hand go completely, he didn't glance back, as he entered Vincent's room, and shut the door quietly behind him. Kristy felt her knees buckle, as she collapsed in the hallway, her shoulders continuing to shake with silent sobs. Trista sighed and kneeled beside her friend reaching out to touch her, only to be pushed away, as Kristy scrambled to her feet, and slammed her bedroom door behind her.  
  
"Oh Kristy...." Trista gasped faintly, standing up beside Averus.  
  
"She'll be ok..." Averus said lightly.  
  
"Oh Averus, she's heartbroken." Trist gasped, leaning on him slightly.  
  
"She has to realize this is the only way we could save Vincent, a leader's she's known for years, and if it means separating Tori to his true form, which she has only known for a few days, she'll get over it." Averus commented.  
  
"But Averus, how would you feel, if suddenly I was changed into a different girl, and dominion?" Trista asked quietly.  
  
"That's different Tris; we've known you for years. She's only known Tori for a few days... It's different..." Averus said, both trying to convince himself and Trista, he couldn't imagine letting Trista break in to another girl who remembered nothing of her team, or him.  
  
"Not Really, Averus... Not really..." Trista sighed.  
  
"So, that's the city kid?" Kiki commented dryly, glancing to Alex who frowned.  
  
"Apparently. And apparently the neko girl doesn't wanna give him up." Alex frowned.  
  
Street just scowled, "She could have brought the kid sooner, and this would all be over by now!!" she hissed, leaning her head back on the wall, exhaling from exhaustion.  
  
Kiara and Raleigh glanced from Street to back down the hall, both thinking the same thing,  
  
//What's Kristy gunna do when this is over? //  
  
Alex just huffed, "Well he sooner this is over, the sooner I can get home!"  
  
Street frowned, her head leaning against the wall as she let her dark pastel eyes waver towards the direction he neko and the city boy disappeared,  
  
//Kami this better work... I'll kill that pathetic neko if Vincent dies because she stalled too long.// she frowned then glance over to Alex.  
  
He looked thoroughly annoyed, but she knew he would be deeply disappointed if his rival suddenly died, and not at the hands of Alex- although she doubted whether Alex could actually bring himself into killing Vincent - Vincent did however spare Alex's life on many occasions.  
  
Sudden blast from upstairs shook the entire apartment as everyone ran up the stair. There they saw Kristy trying to revive barely conscious Tori.  
  
"What's going on!!" shouted Averusl.  
  
"What happened kid?" Alex asked.  
  
"I thought he was suppose to bring Vincent back!!" shouted Street angrily.  
  
Tori weakly turned his head at the others and muttered out, "Go...to...the roofs...he was already taken by the time I got into the room. That...thing...laughed and blasted me out of there....you must...try.." he said as he went limp.  
  
He was still breathing but he was unconscious now. Kristy gasped. She slowly stood up and sprinted to the roof, leaving behind two bewildered teams.  
  
"MAXELL!! WHERE THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING!?" shouted Street as she ran and followed Kristy.  
  
Kristy swiftly turned around and shouted, "I'M GOING TO DO WHAT TORI SAID!! UNTIL THAT THING IS GONE NOTHING GOOD WILL HAPPEN!!" she shouted with more tears coming out and continuing to the roof.  
  
Trista and Averus quickly followed after her.  
  
"KRISTY WAIT UP!! YOU FORGOT US!!" they shouted.  
  
As they disappeared, Street slowly, but sure started walking up the stairs, "I don't know about you guys, but I'm going up there to help Vincent. It's your choice whether you want to come or not." she muttered out as her black cloak went fly behind her as she started running up the stairs.  
  
Alex sighed and followed her.  
  
"I'm not about to let some demon take care of my rival for me." he retorted.  
  
Kiki, Kiara and Raleigh looked at each other and nodded as they followed their leader to the roofs. When they arrived there a horrid black shadow towered over them with its deep golden eyes staring. It suddenly materialized into a rather large human, but with four demon wings and its whole body almost covered in shadow and its golden eyes glaring maliciously at the two teams assembled to try and get rid of him.  
  
"FOOLISH MORTALS!!! THIS HUMAN IS ALMOST GONE!! WHY FIGHT THE INEVITABLE, THAT SCRAWNY KID WAS TOO LATE TO TRY AND HEAL HIM!! I'VE WON SO YOU CAN JUST FORGET ABOUT GETTING THIS PATHETIC HUMAN BACK TO YOU!!" it shouted.  
  
"Wrong you stupid fucking demon!!" hissed Kristy, "Its never too late and I'm not about to loose my leader just because of some damn deranged demon decided he wanted more power...KITTEFAE!!" shouted Kristy and amazingly, without even launching her blade, her ice cat came out ready to fight.  
  
"You called Mistress?" smirked Kittefae.  
  
She suddenly glowed turquoise around her as she was getting energy from her mistress.  
  
"Let's go!! GLITTER SNOW!!" she shouted. ************************************************************************** ************* End of Chapter 7.  
  
Hope you liked it and thanks for the reviews!! 


	8. Fading Light: Fighting on, Recovering, A...

Hey people. As usual I apologize for the VERY late update. Been busy with school and all and it sorta slipped my mind. Enjoy this chapter of "Fading Light" and please leave a nice review!! And Don't forget to thank Mystic who's been helping me with this too. Btw, Luna or anyone else on MSN, if you're reading this, my MSN is screwed up right now and it won't let me log on, so I may hafta use my bro's...if he ever gets off the computer...sorry so please just bear with me and just be patient until the bugs are fixed. Thanks. ************************************************************************** ************  
  
KitteFae dashed forward releasing a rush of ice and snow at the demon. It hit but didn't do much. "TRY AGAIN!!" Kristy shouted.  
  
"DOMINION!! ETERNAL RUSH!!  
  
"KYOSHI ONYX TORNADO!!" a combination of a horse attack and a black tornado dashed towards the demon pushing him back.  
  
"Nice try, but not enough!!" it shouted smartly.  
  
The other voices joined the fray.  
  
"DARK FANG!!"  
  
"TRANSCEX!!"  
  
"EAGALON!!"  
  
"VENUSOUS"  
  
"WOLFEN!!"  
  
The attacks combined actually managed to do damage to it.  
  
"Damn you...TAKE THIS FALLEN RENDEZOUS!!" a huge black wind knocked most of the bit-beasts and humans down. The only ones that managed to withstand them was Dark Fang and Wolfen.  
  
"Looks like we can't just sit around." smirked Street as she hopped on Dark Fang's back, and took to the skies. The others followed their example and getting on their bit-beasts and commanding them. It was frustrating for the chaos, as he attacked the others.  
  
"ARGH!! TAKE THIS YOU BRAT!!" firing a familiar dark beam that Averus had seen at Trista.  
  
"TRISTA WATCH OUT!!!" shouted Averus as he pushed her out of the way, but he and Kyoshi managed to get hit.  
  
"AVERUS!" Trista cried, "OH TAKE THIS!! DOMINION!! DO ETERNTAL RUSH AGAIN!!" "RIGHT TRIS!!" shouted Dominion as he charged forward and hit the demons leg, but it got kicked right back and landed on their backs. "Ow...Averus you alright?" shouted Trista, groaning as she held her side. "Fine. C'mon let's get back.  
  
Averus said and they weakly got up and continued fighting.  
  
"WOLFEN!! TRY ATTACKING WITH KIKI AND KIARA!! THAT SHOULD WORK!!" shouted Raleigh.  
  
Wolfen howled in agreement and attacked in unison with Kiki and Kiara, but it dodged it.  
  
"But how!! It worked last time..." he shouted. But before either Kiki or Kiara could reply, the voice muttered out,  
  
"TWIN BLACK HELIX!!" and two streams of black energy twisted around each other as they left its hands and before Kiki, Kiara or Raleigh could react it hit them slamming them into the ground. They got the full blunt of the attack and were weakly trying to get up.  
  
"Transcex try Fang Clamp again!!" shouted Alex getting worried as Transcex attacked again, but it dodged the attack like usual and raised a fist and hit Transcex forcing to fall harshly to the ground. "AHH!! TRANSCEX GET UP!!" he shouted.  
  
Trista and Averus tried combining their attacks again, but somehow it absorbed it.  
  
"WHAT!! NOW THAT FREAK CAN ABSORB OUR ATTACKS!!!" Trista shrieked as they barely dodged an attack.  
  
"TRISTA, AVERUS WATCH OUT BEHIND YOU!!" shouted Kristy from below, but before either could try and see what was behind them, they were grabbed and slammed against each other and the thing threw them towards Kristy and Street who were on the ground. The four crashed into each other moaning from the pain.  
  
"Ugh...what happened..." drawled Averus.  
  
"My head feels like its going to split." added Kiara holding her head.  
  
Suddenly a familiar laugh echoed. "LIKE I SAID BEFORE!! IT WAS FOOLISH OF YOU TO CHALLENGE ME. HOW ABOUT I FINISH YOU OFF QUICKLY." it grinned and raised its hands and shouted, "APOCALYSPE!!" and a huge amount of dark energy started forming in front of his hands, as the others couldn't dodge it.  
  
"What'll we do!!" shouted Kiara scared and clutching onto Raleigh.  
  
Kristy just stared into its eyes hoping for a miracle, as Street sadly looked down.  
  
'Vincent...we couldn't save you...I'm sorry.' she thought.  
  
Meanwhile Tori had started glowing a warm light blue color around him. He started to twitch and move a bit. Suddenly his eyes and instead of the confused dark violet eyes, instead were strong determine dark blue eyes jolted opened and he disappeared, leaving only a white feather where he once sat. As the demon finished charging up its canno, smirked and said, "Sayonara, you pathetic insects." And the ball was released and headed straight for the two teams. They all closed their eyes and waited but suddenly voice shouted out,  
  
"SHRIO WALL!!" and a white globe surrounded them as the attack absorbed it and then it was launched back towards the demon who stared at in horror.  
  
"NO!!" it shouted and took the full force of it, severely weakening it. As everyone opened their eyes they stared in shock at who had saved them. It was the city-kid. But he was flying?  
  
"WHAT THE HELL!!" shouted Alex stunned.  
  
"Is this what Arashi meant?" Transcex wondered out-loud.  
  
"So he really IS the kid we've been looking for." muttered Street.  
  
Kristy could only stare at the white winged angel. But as Tori looked down, she stared into an intensity of blue eyes as he softly smiled.  
  
"Tori....chan..."  
  
Tori nodded and then looked up at the figure He suddenly opened his palm and a sword materialized, "Let go of my other half and the human, you demon." growled Tori, but his voice sounded different as if it was a combination of two other people.  
  
"NEVER!! HE WILL BE MY SACRIFICE AND HE IS MY HOST!!" growled out the demon.  
  
The sword that Tori held suddenly glowed a bright light and making the demon howl in pain, as the others watched amazed, he dove forward and slashed the mid-section of him. Everyone gasped out -loud when they saw who was in there. It was a clear dark violet bubble that surrounded Vincent as he was standing. His arms were hanging limply by his sides as his head was bowed down and his eyes was closed.  
  
"NO YOU CANNOT!! I WON'T LET YOU TAKE MY HOST AWAY FROM ME!!" it shouted as it tried attacking Tori but he just created another wall and the attack went right back to the demon at twice the force. Tori dove once again and shattering the bubble and releasing the weakened Vincent as he was cold and pale. As he put him down to the ground, he had a bit of time before the demon could attack him. Tori leaned over to Vincent's ear and then whispered,  
  
"Time is now, my dark side. to combine and rid us of the nuisance."  
  
Vincent's eyes shot opened, but they were red instead of their usual green. He stood up and stared at Tori.  
  
"What's going on you guys?" asked Raleigh.  
  
"I...have no idea..." replied Trista.  
  
"It's the ultimate fusion. When light and dark combine into one, they form an unrivaled warrior. It's rare so because light and dark some have been fighting since the beginning." stetted Dark Fang.  
  
"I see." replied Street.  
  
Vincent and Tori grasps their hand together and shouted, "OMNI FUSION!!".  
  
A bright light cascaded onto them, forcing everyone, including the demon to cover their eyes. When they opened it, they stared at the new warrior. He was tall with black hair and blue streaks in it. His eyes looked like a combination of blue and red. What he wore was black silk shirt and pants, but with a silver gem on the chest plate that he held in both hands a sword and on his back, were three white wings on one side and three demon wings on the other side. It stared coldly at the demon.  
  
"You wanted power, forget it. Face the wrath of my sword. I may not be able to hold this form long , but I can hold it long enough to get rid of you!!"  
  
He shouted and took to the air and raised his swords high. The demon tried to escape but found himself unable to.  
  
"FOR ALL THAT YOU AND YOUR KIND HAVE DONE!! TAKE THIS FROM EVERYONE ON WHICH YOU HAVE CAUSED PAIN TO!! INFINITY CROSSFIRE!!"  
  
Thousands of light that formed into arrows came raining down onto him as he writhe and twisted in agony.  
  
"NO!! IT CANNOT END THIS WAY!!" it shouted those last words then with a dark explosion from the arrows the being was no more.  
  
As the dust settled and the six winged being landed, it suddenly split into two. There laid Tori and Vincent. Everyone got over their initial shock and ran over to them, despite their weakened states. Street was the first to reach Vincent.  
  
"Vincent Kojii!! you wake up right now!!" she shouted shaking him.  
  
He groaned and a black orb came of his body and Arashi popped out.  
  
"Ouch...any one get the name of that bit-beast that ran me over?" he asked, rubbing his head.  
  
"ARASHI!!" shouted the bit-beasts happily as they ran towards him and making sure he was alright. Kristy kneeled next to Tori and hugged him.  
  
"Tori-chan" she cried, tears spilling out and hitting his face. Tori weakly opened his eyes and met with Kristy's hazel.  
  
"I'm sorry," was all he said, leaving Kristy confused, but she backed away as Tori was filled with a blue light and floated up. Vincent was still unconscious but Street was right next to him holding him, as Tori glowed. They all stared and suddenly two new forms were found. One was of a red-head and the other was of a blue haired angel. Although the boy didn't move, and Kristy was paralyzed with horror, the angel moved and twitched. He sat up and opened his eyes and rubbing his head,  
  
"Yeow!! Man what headache. Uh...who are you people?" he asked.  
  
Suddenly a cry of joy was heard and the blue angel was tackled by a happy demon.  
  
"AZUL-CHAN!! YOU'RE BACK!!!" he said laughing.  
  
"Ara..ARASHI!! I CAN'T BELIVE IT!! IT IS YOU!!" shouted Azul hugging Arashi back.  
  
They all watched, but Kristy went up to the red-headed boy and silently asked, "To..Tori-kun? " she asked weakly, but when she heard no reply, as the body refused to respond she broke down crying on the unknown boy's back.  
  
((Three days Later))  
  
They had put Vincent and the unknown kid in their rooms as they still haven't awoken. Kristy had gone and told Kaze that Tori was sick and would be staying with her for a while. Kaze understood and would notify Mizuki and Tokiya. Kristy also hadn't left the kid's side as he was still sleeping. Street came to visit everyday, hoping that Vincent would get up, but so far nothing. As they quietly waited for the recovery of the two people. Azul had healed them, but they still didn't seem to wake up.  
  
It was on the fourth day when the red headed kid finally woke up, the first person he noticed was his brother,  
  
"Oniisan!!" he gasped loudly, waking Kristy from her slumber, which was against the wall. Nanashi crawled over to his big brother shaking him lightly, awakening him too from his deep sleep.  
  
"Otouto!!" Vincent gasped , as the redhead wrapped his arms around his older brother, and Vincent hugged him equally, if not tighter back.  
  
"Nanashi!!"  
  
"Vincent..."  
  
Kristy sat in silence for a few minutes watching the reunited brothers hug, and sob quietly in joy.  
  
"Anou..." Kristy muttered quietly, catching both brothers attention.  
  
"Maxell, what are you doing here?" Vincent demanded while the younger boy looked confused.  
  
"I haven't left your sides in four whole days..." Kristy said sadly for getting no appreciation, before she glanced at Nanashi, "You don't remember...do you?" she choked out.  
  
Nanashi frowned before glancing to Vincent, in hopes in gaining answers from him, but Vincent was equally confused. Kristy couldn't help but let out a loud frustrated sob, before she fled Vincent's room and ran into hers, slamming her door, before burying her face into her pillow, staining it with tears  
  
"I really did lose him.." Kristy moaned into her pillow. //How could I not expect this??// she thought to herself sadly, //I already knew I had lost him, the moment I let go... Oh Kami... It's hurts... why does it hurt??...// Kristy moaned as she rolled over onto her back clutching her throbbing chest, tears streaming from her eyes, "Why does it hurt??!!" She gasped out loud.  
  
A sudden knock on her door, tore Kristy from her pained thoughts, as she quickie flipped back over on her stomach, hiding her tear stained face. She heard the door silently open, then shut again, before she felt her bed sink, as someone sat down beside her.  
  
"Gomen.. I didn't mean to make you cry...err.."  
  
"Kristy...Kristy Maxell..." she huffed trying to ignore the hikari, as she stood up and walked over to her desk.  
  
"Am I suppose to know you?" Nanashi asked quietly and sadly, staring after her from her bed.  
  
Kristy shook her head, "Not any more..." she sighed, as she clutched a plushie phoenix in her arms, the same one she gave to Tori as an apology gift, she turned around and walked towards him, "Onegai... Forget any of this happened. For get my tears, just like you forgot me." Kristy begged placing the phoenix in Nanashi's hands, "I suppose everyone needs to start from scratch." she sighed sadly.  
  
Nanashi's eyes widened, before he glanced down at the phoenix. He frowned it looked so familiar, then glanced back up, his eyes focusing on Kristy's neck. A black collar, with two small golden bells....  
  
*CLICK*  
  
"Kristy-chan...." he grinned softly.  
  
Kristy shook her head, "Tor-Nanashi...please can you just leave me be for a while, I think I need some sleep." Kristy huffed opening the door.  
  
"Neko Mystic!!"  
  
Kristy's face paled at this name and spun around on her heel to stare at a smirking Nanashi.  
  
"Tori-kun?"  
  
Nanashi smiled softly, before he stood up and shut the door, "I'm Nanashi now, remember?"  
  
Kristy blushed brightly as he approached her, "You-you remember?" she gasped.  
  
Nanashi nodded, as he leaned in and whispered, "Everything." he said softly.  
  
Kristy blinked, but suddenly gasped as their noses were nearly touching, "Nana-mmph." She was silenced as Nanashi kissed her softly yet firmly on the lips, pushing her to the floor. Kristy gasped as he pulled away to let her breathe, "Nanashi..."  
  
He blushed furiously, stroking a few of her strands out of her eyes, "Gomen," he whispered softly, "But I couldn't resist..."  
  
Just the feel of Nanashi made her stomach flinch, and tingling swirls of ecstasy flew about in her gut. It was like kissing Tori for the first time. It was a near perfect moment. Nanashi ran his hand through Kristy's hair without realizing it.  
  
"Nanashi..." she loved the feel of his name on her lips, it came as naturally as the name 'Tori' did, it was like it never it mattered that he was once combined with his angel bit beast.  
  
"What, is it?" Nanashi asked with equal softness.  
  
"I don't ever wanna wake up!"  
  
~~2 weeks later~~  
  
Kristy huffed heavily, as she stared aimlessly out over the Forbidden Alleys, as she stood in the silent night along her balcony, leaning on the railing. Her hair swayed in the faint breeze, looking over the Northside alley's she had grown up and learned everything in.  
  
Since 'Tori' had returned to being Nanashi and Azul, everything seemed to be settling down. She blushed brightly at a sudden thought - Street had interrupted her and Nanashi in a lip lock when his memory came flowing back to him, she was demanding answers for everything, most Nanashi and Vincent could answer, but the real tuff ones they left to Azul and Arashi. They had explained how the brothers were separated and how the fusion of both boys and bit beasts worked. It took a few hours, but by the end of the night Street and her Gang walked away satisfied.  
  
Then there was Kaze and Mizuki. Kristy and Nanashi had went to talk to Kaze, and after about 45mins of explaining, Kaze finally accepted the fact that there never really was a Tori, he was only the fusion of Nanashi and Azul. Mizuki however was much harder to convince. Kristy had let Nanashi go in alone, she hd sat in the cherry blossom tree beside his window for nearly 3hrs, so she assumed they didn't take it to lightly. But with the brief explaining Nanashi told her, was he reminded Mizuki of old memories that only he and her could know, and told her he would no longer be returning home- he had a new home. A home that was always there, that was always waiting for him.  
  
Kristy tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, her eyes still wandering over the alleys. Since Nanashi had become a part of the Shadow Bladers, everything seemed to be turning around, she had a new warmth that she liked that settled itself in the depts of her stomach, always tingling, always, well nearly always making her smile.  
  
"PLEASE BIG-BROTHER!!! JUST THIS ONCE PUH-LEASE!!!" begged Nanashi tugging on Vincent's sleeve.  
  
"Nanashi!! isn't it enough I allowed you to go back, but bringing ME!? You that principal has a death wish if he comes within two feet of me!!" shouted Vincent, clearly flustered, "Besides I can't leave!!!"  
  
"Yes you can!! That's why Averus is the second in command!! PUH-LEASE NII- SAN!! PLEASE OH PLEASE!"  
  
"He has a point. Besides, its not like you do anything else but train around here." stated Averus clearing grinning.  
  
Ever since Nanashi came, things have been a lot more interesting since then.  
  
"Yeah!! C'mon even I admit its enjoyable at some points, besides the uniform of course." added Kristy, tugging at her skirt.  
  
"PUH-LEASE!!!" Nanashi said giving the puppy eyes.  
  
Vincent sighed, "I know I'm gonna regret this later, but fine. BUT!! Only once a week!!" he said.  
  
"Four!!" shouted Nanashi,  
  
"two." Vincent said.  
  
"THREE!!" cried Kristy.  
  
"Fine. Half a week. I'll get ready. And Averus if you tell Alex, Street or anyone, consider your beyblade totaled. You too Tris." Vincent threatened.  
  
The two nodded as Vincent disappeared and Nanashi with Kristy jumped around in their uniform, happy the got him to come. A few minutes later Vincent dragged himself out and nodded to Nanashi and Kristy, who grinned.  
  
"We'll be back later!! Don't do anything we wouldn't do!!!" laughed Nanashi as they closed the door.  
  
Trista and Averus looked at each other and asked, "What did he mean by that?" As the three of them walked towards the school, Nanashi was telling Vincent about his life there.  
  
"You and Kaze would get along great big brother!! He protected me like you do." Vincent seemed interested.  
  
"Where is this kid?" he asked.  
  
Nanashi turned and saw that that they were near the entrance and he saw a familiar kid with black hair and blue eyes.  
  
"KAZE!!" he shouted and surprised blue eyes lit up as he saw his friend.  
  
"Tor....eeerr...Nanashi!!" he laughed and hugged the kid.  
  
"Vincent!! I want you to meet my guy best-friend Kaze Youko." grinned Nanashi, motioning for Kristy and Vincent to come up. Vincent and Kaze stared at each other, until Vincent held out his hand, and Kaze shook it.  
  
"I'm thankful you watched Tori...eerr,,,Nanashi for me." Vincent said as they released their hold and walked into the gates talking, as Kristy and Nanashi talked and getting stares.  
  
Like "tori" had before, Nanashi had gained all the interests of girls, and Eri to say the most was infuriated. As far as everyone in the school knew, except Kaze and Mizuki, Tori had transferred to another school uptown, because he moved. And now everyone was eyeing the new replacment.  
Another thing that stuck Eri's anger, was that Kristy had also planed on staying in school permanently- but perhaps what got her he most mad, was the fact that she suddenly began hanging around the new kid. Not only that to make it worst, Kristy got as much attention from the guys as Nanashi did from the girls.  
  
Most of the time, both gender's would try and tear the two apart, in attempts of dating and such. But today, no one dared come near, especially now that Vincent was with the duo. The boy's seemed to be in fear, while the girls in pure awe. Kristy was actually grateful Vincent had agreed to come along, with him around, she was only bothered 2 out of the 5 days from the boys for dating requests, instead of all week.  
  
Although Eri was too busy fuming over Kristy's arrival, and Nanashi's new infatuation with the neko girl, Mako found it rather odd that Nanashi, the boy who replaced Tori within a few days, was suddenly hanging around Tori's best frend. She could understand the neko brat hanging around with Kaze, she and him got along well- except the occasional 'hentai' fights (since Kristy was always calling him a hentai in any and all of there arguments, leaving tori, sweatdropping), and now a third person. Not only that, this tall blonde looked strikingly familiar...and if Kristy Maxell was an Alley trash kid, why was she suddenly hanging around the city? with city-kids, she could easily kill any of them if she wanted to, although Mako didn't know it was against alley rules to kill, most alley kids only beat city kids to near death then let them find help on their own, most died in the process, so that's why she thought all alley kids killed, although, that was Arcos's job. But if the baka neko was suppose to be their enemy, why was she hanging around with them Mako tried to confront her friend about this, but Eri was too busy fuming over the new boy being taken.  
  
~~~~~ Kristy sighed softly at this memory  
  
Her hair swayed again as a gentle gust of wind, circulated the balcony. Clear skies, glittering stars among the black heavens, for once in a long time, the Forbidden Alleys actualy seemed at ease at night. Normally she could hear the faint yells and grunts of Night Gang members, but to night, they didn't venture into the Northside, most likely off bugging Arcos's Black Thunders and-  
  
Kristy gasped loudly, as two strong arms snaked around her waist, catching her off guard, usually she had a good sense of hearing, but she didn't hear anyone come up behind her, she was far too deep in her own thoughts. She relaxed her shoulders as she felt the person rest their chin on her right shoulder.  
  
"You scared me." she gasped lightly.  
  
"Gomen." was the sweet, soft voice of Nanashi Kojii, "Shouldn't you be in bed? It's nearly midnight, and we have school tomorrow"  
  
Kristy blushed brightly, as he held her closer, se could defiantly get use to this. Trista and Averus had their fun when they were at school - Kristy wasn't THAT blind not to see the eager looks in their eyes when Vincent left with them - so why couldn't she and Nanashi? She smiled at this, before she turned around, his arms still settled on her waist, with a lopsided grin on his face.  
  
"Shouldn't you be in bed too, then?" Kristy smiled, tilting her head playfully.  
  
Nanashi shrugged, "I couldn't sleep!"  
  
"Why not?" Kristy frowned with a tiny smirk, failing in trying to hide it. She couldn't help but smile, whenever he touched her.  
  
Nanashi leaned in, his breath hot on her ear, "I was thinking of you - and I knew you were awake too." he smirked, before nipping at her ear, knowing that this was a VERY, EXTREMELY ticklish spot of hers, which he learned a few days after his recovery.  
  
Kristy squealed, trying not to be loud, as she stumbled away from the mischievous hikari, clutching her ear, "Don't do THAT!!" she hissed, as he laughed, "It's NOT funny!!" she whined.  
  
Nanashi faked pouted as he advanced on her, making her stumble back, before her back pressed against the balcony railing, "No fair!!" she whined loudly. She mentally cursed the fact that he ever found out about it!  
  
~~Flashback~~  
  
It was a few days after Nanashi's recovery, as she and he walked along through the halls of the school. They were talking quietly as they passed other students, just as Eri strolled up to Nanashi, Mako hot on her heels. "Ohayou, Kojii-kun." She smiled brightly.  
  
Nanashi blushed slightly, "Err...call me Nanashi please."  
  
"Nanashi, I was thinking, if your not busy this weekend - you can come to my party - just a fun get together, alcohol will be supplied free of charge." Eri said brightly, completely ignoring Kristy as she scowled at Eri and a grinning Mako.  
  
Nanashi glanced at Kristy with a pleading look in his eyes, which spelt 'do-something' Kristy huffed, and ran her fingers through her hair,  
  
"Nanashi spends the weekends with me - at home - in the Forbidden Alleys, or have you forgotten?" Kristy smirked as Mako's face paled, and Eri's went red with anger and jealousy.  
  
Nanashi nodded, "Yeah, my oniisan isn't very happy that I even socialize with you - city kids - he definitely wont allow me to go to a party anyway." he shrugged casually.  
  
Kristy flashed Eri a fake apologetic smile, as she grabbed Nanashi's arm,  
  
"C'mon Nanashi."  
  
But just as Kristy had spun around, there was a tall boy - taller than Nanashi - in front of her. "Ohayou... Hoshi-sama." Kristy said nervously.  
  
Haru Hoshi was a year older than Kristy, he was tall, dark haired, bright green eyes, and the "sexiest" guy in school. Nanashi always came second compared to him - not that the young hikari minded.  
  
"Ohayou Kristy-chan." He gave a soft smile, completely ignoring the young hikari at her side. It was like the people at this school were too naive and stubborn to accept the fact that Nanashi and Kristy wanted no one but each other.  
  
"You busy this weekend?" and yet, they still insisted on making the neko and the angel their own - word had spread that they were from he Forbidden Alleys as well, but they didn't care in the least.  
  
"Anou..." Kristy glanced back at Nanashi, it was his turn to save her ass.  
  
"Yes." Nanashi said firmly, staring up at the older boy.  
  
Haru frowned, "And how would you know, chibi-chan?"  
  
Nanashi frowned, as he suddenly wrapped his arms around her, ignoring the fact that everyone in the halls could see - and that Kaze had rounded the corner, "Because she's mine - and she spends every weekend with me in the Forbidden alleys." and with that he leaned over and nibbled on her ear. Thus explaining how he learned she was ticklish there. For Kristy squealed very...VERY LODULY.  
  
"NANASHI KOJII!!!" She squealed, clasping her ear.  
  
Nanashi grinned innocently, immediately saving this interesting fact for later - storing it in the back of his mind.  
  
This time, he gently kissed her neck, causing her to relax, "Don't touch my ears." she growled, but smiled innocently at a shocked Haru, "Gomen. I'm taken." and with that the two walked off, his arm around her waist.  
  
~Flash Back ends~  
  
Kristy glanced back over the balcony railing, then back at a smirking hikari.  
  
"I just wanna say good night." He smiled softly through the dim light of the sparkling stars.  
  
Kristy frowned, "Promise not to touch my ears?" she asked softly, taking a step towards him, as he nodded.  
  
"Promise." he laughed lightly  
  
Kristy smiled back, before slowly snaking her arms around his neck, running her fingers through the back of his hair, "Your evil, Nanashi Kojii." she teased causing him to laugh.  
  
"Isn't that my brother's job? He's the one stuck with the demon angel!" He smirked, wrapping his arms around her waist.  
  
"I think Azul and Arashi got confused when they first saw you both! Hiding behind masks your as evil, or in Vincent's case - as soft, as they come." Kristy prodded his chest.  
  
"You don't mean that!" Nanashi gasped in a smirk.  
  
Kristy sighed, leaning her head on his shoulder, "You know me too well." she said softly, "Don't you dare!"  
  
Nanashi "eeped", he was just leaning towards her ear when she snapped at him,  
  
"hehehehe...gomen?"  
  
Kristy leaned back, "You promised, hikari!!" she scowled, as he sheepishly grinned.  
  
"Alright, alright!" he snickered before planting a few silent kisses along ehr jawline.  
  
Kristy sighed softly, "We need to get to bed, we have school tomorrow." she whispered, as he pulled away.  
  
Nanashi nodded, kissing her goodnight, "Hai. Have a nice sleep, Kristy- chan." he smiled, before leaving her room, softly shutting ehr door.  
  
"Arigatou...Nanashi-kun." Kristy whispered back, moreless to herself, as she climbed into bed, letting her exhaustion take over  
  
**************************************************************************** ************* End of Chapter 6 of "Fading Light"  
  
Please leave a nice review and I apologize again for the late update and like before, Luna, Blue, Mystic just bear with me until I get my stupid MSN working. 


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